I always hated riding the school bus. From day one until I graduated high school. My senior year, I could only drive to school every other day because I shared a car with my mom who worked. This resulted in my being the oldest kid on the bus and it was completely embarrassing. When I was 4, going to Kindergarten, I was continually teased and harassed by fifth graders who I thought were really stupid, anyway, but they annoyed me. Asking me to spell Mississippi and then guffawing endlessly like some kind of sick donkey when I said "I-P-P" in the spelling, for example. That same year, I also had this red winter coat with white fake fur around the hood and wrists and they all called me Santa Claus. That really made me mad because for one, I was very obviously a girl (a very cute one, if I do say so myself) and two, I knew they were making fun of my coat and I loved that coat so much.

The years in between were not quite so bad, when every now and then, I had a friend or two who rode the bus with me. But really, there is nothing you can do to "prepare" a child for riding the bus. There is quite simply no way to psych a young-un up for something so boring and lonely that it is on the verge of traumatic and if you try to do this, they will decide quite quickly that you obviously have no idea what you're talking about. Unless they are fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood where all of the kids are best friends with everyone else on their route which takes consideration from parents long before school even begins for a youngster, it is completely and utterly miserable. Aside from the fact that it is necessary to wake up so much earlier to accommodate stopping for all of the other students. There is nothing that I liked about it.

In high school, I remember taking as many early morning AP preparation classes and taking part in as many early morning club meetings as possible to get out of having to ride the dreaded giant yellow horror house on wheels (Being driven to school took so much less time that I didn't even have to set my alarm any earlier). While I understand that parents work (both of mine did) and it is not always convenient to taxi your child to and from school, try to remember to cut them a break from the treacherous ride every now and then if they are truly that fearful of the repeatedly long solitary journey, the mean kids, sliding off a bridge in a snowstorm so bad that school has been released early, or whatever their "excuse" is. More likely than not, they have a good reason for such a strong desire to have an escort.

Learn more about this author, Megan Crist.
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