The Bus Driver Probably Got To See This Before I Did
I am jealous of a bus driver.
Every day, Alexis spends 45 minutes riding a bus to and then again from school. Thanks to an amazing series of coincidences, she's the only kid on that bus. Meaning, she has a school bus to herself. Twice a day. For 45 minutes each time.
Of course, since she's a kindergartener, she hasn't quite reached that emo level of kidness that would dictate that she hide in the back of the bus and pretend the driver isn't there. Instead, she sits in the front row and chats with the bus driver the entire time.
(For the record, we hit the bus driver lottery and have the most perfect for us bus driver possible. Just sayin'.)
Right up until this month, *I* was the driver that Alexis spent her to and from school time chatting with.
It took a while to teach the kid that the words "How was school today?" cannot be met with "Fine." An explanation is required, she has to discuss something she liked and something she didn't like, and she generally is under an obligation to actually explain some things that she learned that day. We had that routine down. Every day the conversation would start slow, but then Alexis would spend the rest of the drive telling me all sorts of fantastic things. I knew which kids were constantly getting in trouble. I knew which teachers didn't know how to put their cell phones away. I even knew which kids ate what for lunch.
I have Alexis trained.
And now she is trained to tell the bus driver about her day. By the time she gets home, she's done reliving her day and ready to tackle new topics for the night. She hasn't run out of words by any means (if you're ever finding yourself short on words, I bet it's because she STOLE THEM ALL). She has just run out of words about school.
I manage to find out what she is learning, but it's like pulling teeth.
Except for this little ditty. She was EXTREMELY willing to tell me all about the kindergarten cheer she learned.
Obviously, our tuition money is doing magical things.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Reader Comments (10)
The bus arrangement sounds like something a parent would work for years to pull together, only being perfected if you could be the one getting paid to do the driving.
@Karen--The trick is to pick a school that is geographically close enough that your school district has to provide busing, but obscure enough that no other parents in your district pick it. Or you just get lucky. Whichever. ;-)
That video is priceless. I can see that being shown at her HS graduation party or her wedding!
I love Meg adding her 2 cents at the end. Also - Emily would be thrilled to teach Alexis a whole collection of cheers, so you can hear a variety. They won't be about kindergarten, but at least two involve getting funky
That cheer awesome. haha Tell Alexis I said good job!
I'm sorry the bus driver is getting to hear all about her day. But, at least she doesn't have any other kids showing her bad stuff on the bus. That is for sure a win.
My kids have always been the "fine" type and I have not trained them to spill all the details. What does sometime work is playing the truth and lie game at dinner. Each person has to tell 2 or 3 true things and 1 lie about their day at school (or work) and the rest guess which is the lie. It usually leads to more discussion about the true things and if not, well, at least you get 2 or 3 tidbits. Cute Cheer!
Tell the bus drive to tell her that Mom wants to know too! That probably won't work, will it?
And an ENTIRE bus to herself? That's crazy talk!! (love it, actually...)
@Elaine--I KNOW! Apparently the school district doesn't own any vans so they destroy the environment with a whole bus for one kid. It's crazy, but kind of awesome for me.
Ha ha ha... at least their cute. :) {yeah yeah}
When gen was in Kindergarten, she got off the bus one day and proceeded to go into this WELL REHEARSED speech about these poinsettias her school was selling, and why we should buy one. When she finished I asked her "how long did it take you to learn that?" (expecting she'd answer "all afternoon") she replied "It is all we have done in school for weeks now. We were told it was top secret."
So impressive.
Jealous! My kid's school is in the next district over, and the bus comes an hour before she has to be at school and arrives home almost 1.5 hours after school is over (the stop is a mile away). I am guessing she would be alone on the bus in the morning since her school starts 30 minutes before the district, but not the end of the day. (I am her driver.)
Maybe you could slip the bus driver a tape recorder? Do those things even exist anymore? :-)