BP, long bus rides for young kids. R u okay with this?

amother

Winterberry

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 4:57 pm

amother Olive wrote:

Good luck op!
Hope you find a workable solution fast!!!!
Can you carpool with a likeminded group of neighbors?
Hugs and hatzlocha

This is what we did when my son had an hour bus route one year. We each drove once a week. It was very hard, but my son was so miserable on the bus that it was worth it.

amother

Glitter

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 4:59 pm

bsy wrote:

😳😳😳😳😳

I can imagine some of my more social kids preferring this, actually. I offered to drive one of them to camp (we don’t live so far from campgrounds) but they preferred to go on the bus, a further trip, because “camp starts on the bus.”

amother

Pear

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 5:00 pm

amother Smokey wrote:

To the person who hugged me for saying this, are you saying you think it’s NOT disgusting for a parent to make their kid sit on the bus
for an hour, purely for their own convenience? How would you like it if someone decided to add an hour to your daily commute for no reason?

Some kids don't mind being on the bus an hour, they like it. But I wouldn't choose to do it if I had another choice.
My kids are on the bus close to an hour going to school, but there's nothing I can do about it. Bh the way home most are on the bus for 10-15 minutes.

amother

Smokey

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 5:03 pm

amother Pear wrote:

I’m glad your kids are fine on the bus. But I was replying to a poster who said that their sister puts their kid on the bus for an hour even though she lives around the corner from the school, purely so she can “get the kid out of the house”.

If you don’t have a choice, and your kids are fine, it’s a different story.

amother

Pear

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 5:05 pm

amother Smokey wrote:

I posted that my sister in law does it.
It doesn't mean the kids are suffering. They might love the bus.

bsy

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 5:57 pm

amother NeonOrange wrote:

You get door to door stops? Each kid is dropped off in front of their house?

If yes, no wonder it takes so long! My daughter's bus stops at corners. It makes about 8 stops altogether. Possibly less. We have to walk 3 min down the block to take her to the bus and pick her up. But she gets home 20 min after school ends.

Yup. It is so beyond frustrating to be stuck behind a bus making FIVE stops along ONE block. IT TAKES FOREVER. That's just one block. If this happens on every block, of course your kid is on the bus for an hour......

meeze

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 5:58 pm

amother Pear wrote:

Unfortunately, being on the bus for an hour, has become the norm. The insane traffic adds alot of time to the route. There's nothing to do about it.

There are so many things in the school system that get improved with the years, this has to be one of them! I can't anymore! My child gets sick every day in a different way!

We decided to pick him up this week one day as a try out. It was unbelievable! He was a totally diff person; coming home with a leibedigkeit, talkative, laphing, sharing, not fighting with siblings, behaving..... omg! This ride is killing him!
But we can't do this every day, picking him up. We're pushing the cheider for a change. Lets hope.

Pls share some of your you're experiences. I need to listen to more BP mom's experiences!
Thank you for sharing, I don't feel so alone in my frustration!

bsy

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:00 pm

meeze wrote:

All the chasidish schools should switch to corner stops only. Both my kids schools do that, as well as the school I work in. Making multiple stops every 2 houses is so ridiculous and inefficient

Last edited by bsy on Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

DarkRed

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:01 pm

OP, I know this may sound heartless, but sometimes you do what you have to do even if it will cost you extra transportation or will take away a chunk of your day.
There is a secret people wont tell you: some our kids that seem like everyone else's require something out of us
that is costly, time consuming and/or doing things other people would never understand.

meeze

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:03 pm

amother Pear wrote:

Some people are happy that their kids are on the bus long because the kids are out longer.
My sister in law lives around the corner from the school. She puts her daughter on the bus at the beginning of the route and she travels around for an hour.

Omg, seriously???
I would not want to be born to such a parent!
I hope she doesn't consider this an "occupation" for her child.

bsy

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:06 pm

meeze wrote:

Omg, seriously???
I would not want to be born to such a parent!
I hope she doesn't consider this an "occupation" for her child.

The only reason I could fathom for this is the mother has to leave to work much earlier than school allows drop offs so she puts her on the bus and then goes to work. Otherwise, it's strange

meeze

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:08 pm

amother Smokey wrote:

OP, you can definitely keep trying to convince the school to shorten the route, but that likely won’t work. Unfortunately in a high traffic place like Brooklyn, it’s normal for a kid to be on the bus for an hour. I agree it is insane for a child that young to be on the bus so long, especially after complaining of nausea etc.
You are his parent, and you need to find a solution to this problem.

Here are some possible solutions:

Ask for a copy of the bus route and see if there is an earlier stop you can possibly pick him up from to make his trip shorter.

Rearrange your schedule so that you or your husband can pick him up from school. Or, dig into your savings or take on a new small job to allow you to afford a private driver.

Switch to a closer school (I live in Brooklyn, my personal solution to this issue is that I only send my children to schools that are walking distance until they are old enough for a bus ride).

Yes, I know a lot of the solutions proposed here are not convenient for you, or may require a lot of effort or rearranging on your part. But instead of continuing to allow your little child to suffer, how about you suffer in place of him, by implanting one of these “impractical” solutions? Otherwise, he is the korban instead of you.

Wow, thanks so much!
You shared some ideas I didnt think of. Will definitely discuss with my husband.

amother

Pear

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:12 pm

meeze wrote:

There's literally nothing much the school can do about it. The school can't control traffic.
The only option is corner stops only, but mothers will be mad about that. There's really nothing much more than this that the school can do.

meeze

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:13 pm

To all of u who say that the kids are fine an hour on bus...
Going to school on a good stomach of eaten breakfast, restful and not exasuted after a full day of stimulation, yes- I get that. But afternoon? Their entire energy is drained sitting bundled up in a thick winter coat with steam on the bus, no open windows trying to dance along with every short stop of the bus dropping off a kid, then waiting for a red light to turn green, then turning and bumping through the road, to finally drift off in a nap, to be waken up 2 minutes later cause its already his stop, stop#25!
Please!

amother

Lightpink

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:29 pm

bsy wrote:

All the chasidish schools should switch to corner stops only. Both my kids schools do that, as well as the school I work in. Making multiple stops every 2 houses is so ridiculous and inefficient

The reason (I think, at least from personal experience) for door to door stops is that it's common to have many kids going to a handful of different schools, & corner stops can conflict each other. Like the year I needed to wait at 2 different corners at the same time. Then when your boy starts going at 7:15 & the baby, toddler & preschoolers are still sleeping or it's snowing or 5 degrees outside you need to either leave the little ones alone or let the older, still too young, child go to the bus on his own. So many mornings I stood in the middle of the black like a crazy person hugging my monitor looking from my child to my house & back.

For those that will inevitably ask why I didn't just wake everyone up, put in coats & taken along: I'm sure you're supermom but I can't get my kid ready for school + get everyone dressed weather appropriately & out the door on time.

amother

Cappuccino

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:33 pm

meeze wrote:

Why can’t you pick him up instead?

bsy

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:35 pm

amother Lightpink wrote:

What age boy is leaving at 715? Also, there is no traffic at 715. I don't care if they do house stops then. But after 8am, it's ridiculous. Either way, were discussing afternoon really. They can do corner stops for the drop offs.

meeze

Thu, Feb 23 2023, 6:39 pm

All of you in the administrative school system think of ways to improve in ways to help the kids accedemically, socially and mentally. If there's a concern for 1 child's parent and they bring this attention to multiple parents and we form a load voice, things can change.

How do we call on this together? How can we promote change in this area of bus routes?
Only when there is major news of child missing, or in danger do we seek change? Why can't we have a change to continue a happy day for the child till he reaches bedtime? Or do we always have to come home to crying grumpy wild, whiney and sick nauseous kids? (In my case)

My son last week came home from the bus and fell right into my hands, and collapsed with his eyes shut. It took me 2 minutes to get him to talk if he's ok and didn't faint! He then told me that he wants to throw up, must of been that he was dehydrated!
I can go on and on with stories.

Thank you all for letting me share here and bring attention to something that matters to me!