Thursday, April 30, 2009

Waiting at the Bus Stop

The corner near our house is a bus stop for students attending the Middle School. It has been one since before Chuck was in seventh grade and the number of kids who board the bus there varies from year to year.
Currently, there appear to be three girls getting on there. One of them lives across the street. I don't know where the other two come from since they are always being driven there. (It can't be too far because the bus stops are no more than three blocks apart.) Every morning when I leave for work, there are two minivans sitting, motors running, with a student and a parent in each, waiting for the bus to arrive.
Our corner bus stop is by no means unique. My route to work takes me past the next three stops the bus makes. (I always want to be on my way before the bus gets to my corner; being behind it means I'll be making all the stops too.) The first of these stops has only one student, who sits in the car with his mother until the bus comes. At the second stop, one boy get out of a minivan and stands at the stop, while his mother sits in the vehicle, watching until the bus arrives. And the third has two more minivans idling with students and parents inside.
Okay, I can understand this if it is raining or very cold. But on a sunny day with temps in the 60s? And if you're going to get up, get dressed, and drive your child to the bus stop, why not just drive him/her to school?

Not all parents in the district are like this. Further along my route to work, I pass another bus stop. I regularly see one skinny boy standing there. Regardless of the temperature, he wears shorts and a t-shirt, and, only in the most frigid or inclement weather, a hooded sweatshirt. One morning it was sleeting; by the time he got on the bus, he had a coating of ice on him. I have to wonder if his parents ever see him before he leaves the house.
If not, maybe they should have a talk with those parents who are sitting in their cars at the other stops.

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