what is expected of the child

Kids on a school bus aren't without supervision -- there is an adult and yes while he or she is distracted a bit with driving generally kids are fairly well behaved -- if I were in your position I'd consider the bus -- give it a trial run. Ask your child to sit close to the driver -- most of the big kids sit at the back of the bus anyway, then your child will be close to the adult & as far away as possible from the "scary" big kids. Wait with your child at the bus stop until the bus comes & instruct him as to where to sit.

Is your child excited or scared about the idea of reading the bus alone????? Don't tell him how you feel about it, and ask when you aren't as anxious about it or he'll perceive your emotions and tell you what you want to hear.

Personally, I understand your fear and sometimes letting go is harder on Mom than it will ever be on the kid. I thankfully won't have that worry, I'm a teacher and my son will go to school with me and attend with my colleagues so I have a good situation.

On the other hand, use the valet service or drive him this year & when he's a first grader have him ride the bus. Do you work or do you stay home? The demands of your commute may need to be considered, just make sure that you and your husband are on the same page on this or it could inhibit your son's ability to form positive school attachments if there is always tension about how he gets to and from home -- riding the bus would give him consistency -- if you have to travel a great distance there may be many times he's late for school or late being picked up. School officials don't look at that very positively and kids don't like being late for school, so while it might be hard to put him on the bus, it might be harder to be the sole transporter for that distance -- besides with gas prices, and me talking myself thrugh this argument I think I'm leaning more towards ride the bus.

brettsmom,

I know that you have a choice and if it were me, there is no way that I would put my son (who is only 5 now) but even in a year I wouldn't even dream of it. I know I am very protective but just not knowing who will be on the bus is scary. When I was a kid I rode the bus for years and know that kids can be mean! It also depends on the bus driver. I know back then we had some pretty sketchy bus drivers. I am sure that it is probably different now but 6 is very young for letting them be w/o supervision in my opinion.

I understand the traffic issues at the schools, but some can really work on improving the traffic issues in many ways. I would put it on the school to improve trafffic not the parents in making their little ones take a bus if it is not absolutely necessary but this is just me!

Kennysmom,

Do you think that 6 is old enough to ride a school bus every day? Our new school offers transportation and the drop off spot is very close to home while the school is not. I don't think there is any adult supervision on the bus other than the driver who will ,of course, be driving not supervising kids. The bus will be carrying a mix of kids of different ages from different LA neighborhoods. I might be feeling overly protective of my baby but I am nervous about putting my little guy on the big bad school bus.

The school is on a very quiet residential street and they are encouraging riding the bus versus parent drop offs to keep traffic down. They can't stop us from driving but they really want as many kids as possible on the bus. It's a public school but one of the parents owns a valet service which they donate during drop offs( yes, I live in LA where a public school has valet service) to manage traffic. The school is not close to our home at all, would require freeway driving so the commute and the gas costs are big negatives. My husband thinks that he should ride the bus to save time, money and to come out from under my wings.

I feel he's just too young for the rough and tumble of the bus.

What do you think?

kennysmom,

I have made so many phone calls that I am a little confused but according to my notes Chandler starts the end of June and are year-round. Gilbert on the other hand is not year-round and starts the first part of August. Either way, it will depend on a lot of things, where we find a home that works for us close to my hubbies new job (Mesa)... it's so hard when you're not from the area but we have heard that Chandler and Gilbert are pretty nice although Chandler is growing very rapidly it is a nice town with lots to do? We'll have a better idea when we visit and hopefully our realtor will have more information. We are open to other areas as well.

Hopefully we will make a good decision both for our home purchase and our sons new school!