Here is a draft of something I was thinking of sending to our local paper...but do I dare?
Dear Parents,
I am the mother of two sons who will now both be attending the High School next year. As young children in the District, my kids first went to RBSl on the “chicken bus”, the small cute bus reserved for the then smaller group of kindergartners who came home half way through the school day. Once the District moved to full day kindergarten and our kids grew older they still took the large bus to elementary school. My older son, and middle schooler took the bus to X School. When he went to High School there was no question that he would get up a bit earlier and take the bus to school.
When I mentioned this fact to another group of mothers in our town, I was met with cries of dismay. How could I allow my son to get up so early? (All of another 15 minutes or so). Another mother actually said to me, “you would let your son take the ‘loser cruiser’”. Her thinking was that he would be deemed “uncool” by the other kids and parents. But also, it is pretty shocking an adult would speak that way. I also noticed that my younger son’s middle school classmates also had a regular chauffeur (parent) drive them to their school.
It is a wonder to me that so many self professed environmentalists, philanthropists and global warming believers still insist on driving their children to school in our community. There are a million excuses for this, from getting up too early, having to wait in the dark in winter at a cold bus stop, inconvenience, to being “uncool”. I think that with all that we need to protect in our world, to say nothing of the traffic, danger, pollution and entitled attitudes that are promoted by this behavior---this simply has to stop.
This year I was driving one son to the Doctor for an appointment and picked him up at the High School at dismissal. I was shocked by the inability to leave the parking lot. The young drivers were pretty polite and drove well. The parents, well that was another story. Aside from the cell phones in hand, several waited on the road just outside the school on the right side in a lane of traffic. They had “outsmarted” the rest of the group, or at least that is the attitude, waiting for children outside the traffic and causing them to walk from the buildings IN FRONT of all the cars and blocking all traffic from leaving the High School. The attitude is Me first. I am more important. I have outsmarted the dolts who follow the rules. (I don’t know that that is worse than the mothers who routinely parked in the handicapped parking outside RBS. When other moms with handicapped children in wheelchairs asked them to move the answer was huffily, “I will only be a minute.”) It would be very easy to figure out the statistics of how many cars are not those of the seniors getting to school. All one would have to do it count the endless parade of cars leaving the school, and the parents in them.
So, at the risk of being a “dolt who follows the rules” or a “loser cruiser,” I would encourage other parents in our town to get some manners, or a conscience. Save the environment, one car or car pool at a time. Save our children from danger. Save time. Put your child’s commute where your mouth is….
3 comments:
Do!
Apparently someone made a comment at last week's town board meeting that perhaps the bridge re-construction chaos would force or encourage more kids to take the bus to school...I liked that.
Well, we don't have the bus problem where I live. It is either bus, walk, or get chauffeured by mom or dad. Many of the kids wake up early and bike, and I think that's great. Of course, my kid is too small with too big of a backpack to bike (or so I think) with the others, so we have to drive. If we leave early, it is okay. Sometimes I bring the WSJ along or even a pair of walking shoes and get some quiet time or a quick workout in while waiting for the traffic to empty out around the school. I am always amazed at the attitudes of some of the parent drivers--like the world should do them all favors and they are so much better or more deserving than others around. The funny thing is, the ones who have really "made it" with private planes and the whole shebang tend not to be the ones who act so privileged.
The again, many parents are great and yield to all incoming parents when the late bell is about to ring. Let's applaud them.
Sounds like you live in my town! I thought I was the only one who lived with over-indulged, self-important parents who are above the rules. I think that by driving to & from school they believe they are better parents. Because their critical thinking skills are all but absent, they think competitive student pick up means they are better parents. Over-coddling their children also means they are better parenting in their minds. These children would be completely lost if they HAD to get home on their own.
Their competitive parenting is also seen in the fact that their camp trunks are packed 3 months early and it takes them a full 18 months to plan a bat mitzvah. I keep telling everyone I know that it's not a wedding, but they're not buying.
And I can believe that they condone the title of a "loser cruiser." Mass transport makes them feel that they must travel with the "masses". Oh poor them. G-d forbid they can't afford a town car for their kids when they grow up and have entry level jobs. Their progeny will never know how to use a bus, cab or (gasp) subway.
Do you think I feel the same?
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