My daughter mentioned to me the other day that she's been having a little trouble on the bus. The "old" bus driver had assigned seats on her bus. Something I never experienced as a kid but NOW I see the wisdom behind it. The "new" bus driver does not have a seating plan on the bus and my timid little daughter is having to deal. When she goes to sit in her old "assigned" seat someone is always already there. So she moves on but no one wants to share their seat, they wanna have the whole thing to themselves. This is terribly stressful for a shy little girl like my daughter. It doesn't help that as soon as she gets to the top of the steps the bus driver pulls away. She is forced to maneuver her bulky book bag through the aisle as the bus is moving to it's next stop.
I met her and her bus at the stop yesterday and explained the problem to the bus driver. He said he'd noticed it and will address it. I decided not to mention that she is shy and sensitive. Why? Because she is the last kid off the bus in the afternoons and...Well....What if he was some creepy kinda guy who would exploit my child while they were alone? Not that he has given me any reason to believe that, it just pops into my head. In this day and age I don't think you can be to careful.
Anyway...I watched her get on the bus this morning and noticed that she still had a little bit of an issue getting a seat. However, this morning the bus didn't move until she sat down. I don't know if that was because I was standing there or if this is part of his effort to fix the problem. I guess we'll see.
Part of me thinks that I should have just left this alone. After all, I remember dealing with "those kids" on the bus all by myself. I was not as shy as my daughter is though. These sorts of things tear her up. I know she needs to be able to take care of these things on her own. I had given her different things to try,but nothing worked so I decided that it had gone on long enough. Mothers guilt, darned if I do, darned if I don't. *sigh*
6 comments:
I always used to sit in the front of the bus since those seats were always free...and no one would mess with me while being so close to the driver.
Unfortunately all the front seats are taken by the time she gets on the bus in the morning. She is the second to last stop. Her "assigned" seat was the third seat back on the right side.
Pity she's that shy. I'd get on with a folding stool and set it up beside the driver. Once the driver sys it's an innapropriate seat I'd force him to find me one. If that didn't work she could start swing the stool around wildly until soemone moves.
I never did ride a school bus when I was going to school. We did not have them and my parents had to take us or we rode in a car pool.
I never got complaints from my kids so I don't know if they had a problem with it or not.
Maybe things will work out better now that you have talked to the bus driver. If that doesn't work maybe you could talk to her councelor and see if he/she would have some suggestions.
She does need to try and work it out by herself so she can build some self esteem. Give it a little more time and see what happens.
Get used to that guilt thing---my son is 38 and I`m still agonizing over decisions I made in 1974
its hard to know what to do, i think you were right in helping her.
my kids were supposed to have assigned seats, but it lasted like a day. my son got "burned" he called it, gor sitiing in this kids seat- the kid thought he could have it to himself.
my sweet boy refused to move, but also refused to be goaded. or bribed. or threatened. he covered his ears and let them waste their time and threats. then he came home wantibg to be homeschooled. 6 mos ago, he probably would have fought back.
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