Kindergarter & Bus Stops

[luckyno7]

Hi All! My little guy starts kindergarten this fall and will ride the bus to and from school. When would you let your child walk and stand at the bus stop alone? It's only 1/2 block from our house but I can't see the stop from our house.

I feel like I just can't get over that my baby is growing up so fast.

[jeaniebueller]

I would wait and see how he handles it and his comfort level (as well as yours) as walking alone. I would let him walk back alone for sure. Will there be other kids waiting as well?

[londoncalling]

I'm following the other parent's lead on this one since we are the furthest from the stop. The other K student and a family with a 1st grader still go out to the stop with them daily since it's the start of the year. That will probably relax by the end of the school year for all of us. However, we can all see the bus stop from our houses and there are a total of 7 kids getting on at the stop.

[whitemerlot]

I plan to be at the stop with my kindergartener. I'm just not comfortable with him out there alone.

[anna7602]

Our bus driver won't drop a child at the stop unless an adult is present to collect him/her, so we haven't grappled with this issue at all. Even the 5th graders at DD's stop have a parent or caretaker walk them to and from the stop.

[jinkies]

Our district says that an adult should be at the bus stop both am and Pm for k and 1st grade students. They won't even let the kids off the bus without an adult there.

I did, once, make my kid walk himself in the am because my younger kid was having a terrible morning and I wasn't dressed yet. He said later he was really nervous and I never did it again.

All this to say, I would plan to be there with him.

ETA: to answer your question, my kid is now 7 going into 2nd grade and I'm hoping this year he can occasionally walk himself. We have a similar set up in that the stop isn't that far, but we can't see it from our house.

[dale]

Our district requires a parent to accompany all kindergarten students to and from the bus stop. After that it is up to driver discretion.

[CloudBee]

I would check local "rules" if you have not already.

[Deleted]

I would definitely check with the district, all kindergartners are required to have someone waiting for them at the stop in our district.

And I would not feel comfortable with this, especially a new bus rider. Maybe in the spring after they had been doing it a while.

[cinco]

I still take my 2nd and 4th grader. It is required in K & 1st. I'll probably keep going until they ask me not to (or middle school, but I assume they'll be done with me before that)

[ECB]

The stop is right across the street from our house. We go out to the stop w hiim every morning (he's in first now). The days he does take the bus home, he started asking last year if we can just wait in the front yard and let him get off and cross on his own. I'll do that.

If he starts asking, I'll probably let him go to the stop w/o us. Quite a few other kids get on the bus there too, so between that and that I can SEE The stop - I'd let hiim do it alone.

If I couldn't see the stop- I'd absolutely be going w /him for quite awhile.

[qcinoct]

our bus requires parents to be there as well. Check the regulations

[luckyno7]

Good! I am glad I am not crazy for wanting to be at the stop with my kid. I think with all this talk about helicopter parenting I was thinking I was being too over protective by wanting to be at the stop am and pm.

[GotWine]

Our school district requires parents to be there for drop off up until a certain age. My kids aren't in the school yet, so I'm not clear on what the exact rules are. My kids will be the only ones on our street that ride the elementary bus so they will be picked up at the end of our driveway. I'm so happy about this.

[DarcyLongfellow]

Nope. For younger kids our school requires parents to actually be there at the bus stop. But I wouldn't do it anyway because my kid would freak. (Well, and our bus stop is 1/2 mile away from our house because the bus only stops once for our whole neighborhood. Not that I'm bitter or anything.)

[lindsaymg]

Our son is in first grade, we let him start walking to the bus stop alone this week. We stand on the porch and watch right now because it is the first week but we will slowly stop doing that.

The stop is 2-3 houses down and can be seen from our house. Last year it was all the way down the street and the kinder only bus which requires a parent to be there so we walked him.

[demandypants]

Our district required an adult meets a Kindy aged child at the stop. DD started walking with a friend half way through first grade. If the friend is sick, I will take her down. However we never went down to meet the bus in the afternoon once she was out of K.
Eta we cannot see the stop from home, as it is around a corner.

[hocus2]

No. I am surprised that your school doesn't explicitly state the age at which kids can wait or get off the bus without a parent. 

For my school it is 4th grade.

[luckyno7]

I just looked at our school handbook and didn't see anything. Trying to find the district one.

[ECB]

Aug 27, 2015 12:38:41 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

No. I am surprised that your school doesn't explicitly state the age at which kids can wait or get off the bus without a parent. 

For my school it is 4th grade.

I should look into this myself.  I know there are rules about this but nothing was ever communicated directly to me about this. I do wonder how old DS has to be before I can just let him really go to and from w/o me.

[Alyssa]

I wouldn't let my child out of my sight...but that's just the type of parent I am.

[ECB]

I just looked up the rules for our county. LOL. The guide on our school system site says:

"Bus drivers are responsible for students from the time they enter the bus until they exit the bus. A parent does not have to be present at the bus stop"

Huh. Intersting. K and 1st graders are supposedly sat at the front of the bus. But other than that, no rule about parents being at the stop.

Regardless, DS will not be entirely alone for awhile yet. Meaning- probably not until 3rd or 4th grade.

[cjeanette]

My kids don't bus but the stop is basically my driveway for our hood. There are kids of all ages out there so it's not like the 5 year old is alone.

Also it's a quiet area that only has traffic of people who live there so I wouldn't think twice about it after the first couple days.

They don't require an adult be there.

[suzubell]

I would walk him there.

[chedifuen]

Our district requires a parent for kindergartners. If they didn't, I would let mine go with his 3rd grade brother. There are always other parents at the bus stop so I wouldn't be concerned. Our house is only about 20 feet from the stop.