If I were to write an article / paper / thesis I would entitle it something along the lines of "How to survive on a school bus 101."
An incident occurred a week or so ago on my kids school bus which instantaneously turned me in to a ferocious brown bear determined to protect my cubs at all costs! Whilst I wouldn't consider myself a 'helicopter parent' or a 'bubble wrap mumma' this incident had me seeing red AND feeling physically sick all at the same time.
My first reaction was probably somewhat natural in that my mind told me that NEVER AGAIN ARE MY KIDS CATCHING A SCHOOL BUS HOME FROM SCHOOL but once this possibly unrealistic gut reaction settled a little bit, I found myself trying to determine the best way to approach the situation.
Bear with me whilst I provide background & history...
A couple of months ago, I had some pretty hefty surgery following which I was advised I would be unable to drive for a couple of weeks ... small problem given that we live about 20 minutes away (by car) from my kids school. Although we'd looked in to it in the past, we hadn't made the leap to allowing our kids to catch the bus home from school I work school hours and as such was able to pick them up from school.... So, I investigated, researched and stressed out majorly and despite a HUGE amount of anxiety (given that they had to change buses at the exchange) I sucked it up, put on my big girl panties and let the boys catch the bus home... Yes, we had one minor hiccup on their first day that left me a frantic mess for about 15 minutes (nothing major, just me not being clear on what time the bus arrived in our town and hence freaking out when they weren't on the first 3 buses that stop there) all has been going along pretty smoothly since then.
I admit, it hasn't all been completely smooth sailing with the boys having to adjust to the unwritten social rules of country school bus runs, but I thought we were handling it okay and that perhaps things had changed since my days of catching the bus... would appear I was wrong and I had in fact let the boys down by not trying to educate on the social norms of catching said bus.
Let it be know right now that I don't agree with the language used in the image below depicting the definition of 'back of the bus' - however, it is worth noting that the image is taken from the urban dictionary, not a real dictionary..... but essentially, (wether right or wrong) this seems to sum up the perception about who has the right to sit at the back of the bus.......
Kind of funny really when you consider that the ride at the back of the bus is TERRIBLE, the air conditioning never reaches that end and (if it's a traditional bus, not a coach) you have to share the seat with 4 other people!!! I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could also find some stats that could prove that the back seat is statistically the most unsafe position on the bus....
NEVERTHELESS, as a school kid, if you reach that grand old pinnacle of being a 'back row toughie' it's like being anointed with some regal title, you become king or queen of the bus or at least one of the royal subjects, little kids look up to you, people don't steal your seat, the others gaze at you in awe, they want to be you, sitting up the back with the other 'back row toughies'..... as an adult it all seems pretty stupid now, however, I must confess that I too was once a 'back row toughie' during my high school years, yet I would like to think that I accepted this rite of passage with dignity, decorum and respected all my fellow subjects who had yet to reach this illustrious position on the social hierarchy that is school bus travel..... At least I hope that's how I was perceived.....
After finishing high school I guess I never really thought of it that much ever again.... as soon as I got my license I very rarley used public transport of any kind; any time I needed to travel by bus it was purely a means to an end and given that it was usually in an unfamiliar location / area I was more worried about getting off at the right stop. I could have been sitting on the bonnet of the bus or right next to the driver for all I cared...
It would appear now that I should have considered an educational session (yep, including power point slides, instructional booklet and quiz for the kids) before I let them hop on the bus that first time...
Whether we agree with it or not, the social hierarchy of the school bus system is alive and well.... I'm not here to argue the right and the wrong of it all or to discuss the political correctness of it all, but I guess in a lot of ways its similar to a workplace.... Provided no one is being hurt, intimidated, threatened or mistreated, there is nothing wrong with affording a level of respect to those who are older than us, who have been doing it for longer, have more experience etc etc...
Unfortunately, I was probably a little remiss in educating my boys on the unwritten, Un documented rules that go with riding the school bus. As a guide (and only as a guide) I've now suggested to my boys that they calculate the number of years they are away from year 12 and use this as a guideline as to how many seats from the back they should sit.
All this aside, a word of warning to those big kids that have attained that glorious position of school bus royalty!!! YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY! A big, HUGE responsibility that has the potential to shape your lives for the future! I'm willing to do my bit as a parent of younger children, but are you willing to step up and accept the fact that these little kids look up to you, admire you and aspire to be like you?
Big kids, imagine for a second that you were a parent of a little kid who is learning how to treat others based on what they have seen from you..........
If you wouldn't want your future kids behaving the way you are, scaring & intimidating others the way you are, DONT'T DO IT!
To surmise, That's great that you made a knife in your woodwork class, well done on crafting a pretty convincing piece, whatever, I'm really thrilled for you, BUT don't use it to scare the crap out of my kids and others on the bus! I saw it myself, it looked real enough to me at a glance so imagine what a little kid thought. The reality is if you were to enter a shop, service station or bank with a pretend gun you could still be locked up for it!
Yup, rant over! You have a beautiful, loving & caring mum and from what I've seen a really great step dad who is also a great bloke. I'm genuinely sorry if my response to this issue has caused you any grief but I hope you can appreciate that I am just a mum who loves my kids who had to make sure this incident was investigated.
