Things have sure changed when it comes to learning how to ride a school bus these days.
Safety is the rule of the day as kids are taught how to get on and off the bus, crossing the street safely and what to do if something falls under the bus. I certainly agree that for the young’uns, it removes the anxiety of that giant first leap to schooldom.
Kudos to the school boards, City Police and other entities for teaming up to offer this second annual First Rider Bus Program.
I remember well my high school years riding a school bus. It was about Grade 8 when we moved from town to country and the bus was our mode of transportation to and from school. In fact, we were the first on in the morning and last off at the end of the day. It was an arduous affair, especially for someone in teenhood. The seats were hard and uncomfortable making for a tiring ride home; it was loud and rowdy, but sometimes full of laughs…it was a miss-mash of country kids mingling together in camaraderie. And for those that might have clued in, as a teenage girl, for me, being somewhat in the vicinity of one of the cute boys was in the back of my mind, although I was pretty shy in those days.
Even as kids today, I and my siblings dressed scantily in winter weather, not thinking and not dressing for the elements, although we had the appropriate wear buried discreetly.
Mom usually made porridge for breakfast but when teenhood came along, I resisted. Ugh! To this day, porridge is not where I go for sustenance. And as some young girls do, they think that starvation is best so all I took for lunch was a piece of fruit. No wonder I was famished when we got off the bus at the end of the day. I have since learnt how to eat healthier.
My worst memory of riding the school bus happened when I was probably in Grade 12. It wasn’t something falling under the bus as the first riders are taught, it was rather someone….me!
The bus driver was a single guy, probably a number of years older but as I was back then, I had an image to uphold as a young lady.
It was a stormy torrential rainy day…damp, cold, and wet. The stairs were slippery and the mud on the driveway was mucky like soup; my arms were full with my binder and books and lo and behold, I slipped off the bottom step landing smack dab on my stomach and almost in a face-plant. How humiliating! The good thing was, only my siblings and I and the bus driver beheld the event and that I could live with.
So, in all of this, the learning is ‘bus safety’ is a good thing and it starts with the little people as first-time riders learning how to get on and off the bus and for what to do when something falls under the bus. Unfortunately as a teenager becoming a first-time rider, I didn't get the memo and went to the school of hard-knocks...
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
