When my stepdaughter was five, she forgot to get off at her bus stop. She was a little, quiet, girl, sitting way in the back and the driver didn't see her.
The driver probably should have called out when she didn't see my step daughter get off the bus at the right stop, but probably was busy/distracted.
She sat there on the buse for the whole trip and the driver didn't see until an hour later when she pulled up at the bus garage
Her mother was besides herself with worry, of course.
After she was found, safe and sound, we had a meeting with the school and it never happened again.
What we didn't do, but-after ready this thread-I guess we should have done, was go on TV, sob, wring our hands over what COULD have happened, have a reporter interview my daughter and encourage her to tell how "scared" she was to get on TV, threaten to sue over a mistake, etc.
Today, that little girl is almost 18.
She laughs about the incident, has no problem taking a bus and seems as normal as one can expect a teenager to be.
So, maybe I'm the worst parent on earth, but given how my kid turned out after a similar incident, I think I'll stick with my "plain stupid" opinion.
The "mother" going to a "newspaper" or television tells you she was more interested in publicity (aka lawsuit) than making sure her child was safe.
OK, tell us what 'could' have happened. She was inside a bus, in the custody of the bus driver the entire time. How is that even comparable to her being dumped on the street and expected to find her own way home?
a bit dramatic of you - and not a similar situation - your child was never on the streets walking around, unsupervised - she was safe on this school bus the whole time.
And the mother (your wife?) who was sick with worry for an hour (?) - did she call the school or the bus dispatch?
The bus drivers can be contacted by radio and with my own child, who at 5 got off at the wrong stop, blocks from home, they found her crying with some kind parent waiting with her. I never made a huge deal about it - but I spoke to the driver and my daughter who learned the right bus stop
I think I'll stick with my "plain stupid" opinion.
I'm sure you will! lol ;)
I did that same thing - I missed my stop and ended up hiding in the back seat of the bus until the driver parked it back at my school. I cried, the driver gave me a cookie and dropped me off at my house on his way home.
I was in a Catholic school and the driver knew my parents.
No one ever acted like it was anyone else's fault but mine. I realized that I had better be ready to get off when the bus stopped at my corner, which was one of the first stops on the route, and not get distracted talking to other kids.
My parents told me to pay attention, I did, and nothing further happened. It wasn't the school's fault, or the driver's fault, it was my fault. (And I'm not scared of buses, either.)
However, if the school had forced me to walk home alone, my very reasonable parents would have raised pure hell.
Why wasn't she walking home?
"When my stepdaughter was five, she forgot to get off at her bus stop. "