kid-sickles

[zookeeper]

It's -31 C here today so I dropped my youngest daughter off at the bus stop like a minute before the bus time and then took my other daughter to her school. Well on my way home (15 minutes later) I pass the bus stop and see my daughter and all the other bus kids piling into an SUV. I stop (duh) and my daughter runs over and tells me the bus broke down and it was going to be another half hour. So one of the dads (in the SUV) took the boys and I took the girls and we drove them to school. Can you imagine these little kids standing outside in the -31 for 45 minutes waiting for a bus?! One of the girls I drove is in grade one and her parents both leave for work when she goes to the bus. There's no one home at ther house and she can't get in - doesn't have a key. I'm so glad the dad waited with the kids and that I got there in time to help out. When I got home there was a message on my phone from the bus company telling me the bus would be late. Thanks, that helped! I can't believe they wouldn't have a back up plan for cases like this! Anyway, that's my rant for the day. At least the kids at our stop are OK. I hope there were other parents available for kids at the other stops, too.

[calgal]

When I lived in Minot ND. I drove the school bus for 5 years. I saw my share of "latch-key" kids, and those with no key at all. One morning it was 100 below wind chill and still they wouldn't close the school. Well let me tell you those poor kids who are locked out (parents gone to work) were almost frozen & one little girl had her tongue stuck to her jacket zipper. I picked up & let off at 3 different schools on the base, and soon as we got all the kids to school, we were told to go get them because one of the shools water pipes broke so the decision was made to close all the schools. What a morning!!! When I would let the kids off, I sat there to make sure they could get into the house and if they couldn't I had them come back into the bus. By the end of all theree runs I had over 40 kids that I took back to the high school, took them to the office and told them to call each and every one of these kids parents to come get them. WEW! Whenever we had any buses break down, we always had extra buses running a warmed up ready and waiting to go. There is NO excuse for having a parent called to pick kids up.

[mrsgrubby]

Hmmmm, I guess I just don't trust anyone, but I would be furious if my child got in some stranger's vehicle. There is just too many things that could happen.
It scares me to death that a bunch of little girls (or boys) would crawl in an SUV with a man that I did not give them permission to do. I wouldn't care if they were freezing to death.

[zookeeper]

mrsgrubby, I did think of that with regard to one of the girls in my car whom I didn't know but I couldn't just leave her there and she was the one with no one home - especially since, at -31, the freezing to death could be literal. At least she might have lost a bit of ear or finger. But we live in a fairly small place and the dad with the SUV is actually our next door neighbor and our kids play together so my daughter knows him quite well. The kids at our stop all live close to each other and spend quite a bit of time at each other's houses. My biggest worry was the one little girl I didn't know and what if I had an accident or something. Probably the right answer would have been to snuggle them into the car and wait for the bus but, honestly, I didn't think of that at the time. I just figured I'd drive my girl and her friends to school and I didn't want to leave one behind by herself in the cold. That probably would have been as dangerous as anything else.

[mrsgrubby]

Zookeeper, You're right. I forgot that most of the children probably knew you and the dad and felt safe getting in the car.

Hopefully they realize that if a stranger stops and offers them a ride or gives them info about the bus then they should ignore it.