The Waiting Game

I don't get it.

Maybe this is something unique to this area.

Every morning, on my way to school, I pass a lot of students waiting for their bus.  I live 3 miles from school.  Most of the kids I see live about 1.5 miles from school.  Since we don't have sidewalks the entire way, they are bussed, even if they live less than a mile away.  It used to be that you had to live at least a mile away to get a bus, but then the sidewalk rule came into play.

I do think it's nuts to have kids who live practically next door to school take a bus.  But that's not what I don't get.

What I don't get is the parents who stand or sit in a car WITH their kids, waiting for the bus.  The amount of time that is spent waiting is the more than the amount of time it would take to DRIVE the kids to school and return home!

I realize that some parents think it's unsafe for kids to stand there and be leered at by nasty perverts, but I don't think having an adult there keeps people from doing that.  I think it just sets them up for the ONE DAY that the parent isn't there and the predator can take advantage.

Some might say, 'well, I dont' want to waste the gas driving the 1.5 miles when there is a bus that will do it, so I'll just stand here.'

True.  But there are many parents who sit there in a RUNNING CAR, WAITING for the bus.  Where is the logic?

I mentioned this to a friend of mine who was fussing about waiting at the bus stop with her daughter.  I asked why she didn't just drive her to school.  She said it wasn't on her way to work.  But really, would it be so far out of the way?  We don't live 20 miles from schools around here.  Most people live like 10 minutes, maybe 15 from a school because we don't bus kids from all over creation, just kids in town.

I can't understand the logic of standing there and then complaining about how you have to stand there.

Well, if you don't like it, drop the kid at school, right?