Teaching Your Child to Ride the Bus

The first time your child has to ride the bus it will be a big deal. It will be a big scary yellow bus that they are not familiar with, and it will be scary. Yes, scary and not just for the kids. Parents feel the stress and anxiety of putting their child’s life in the hands of someone they don’t know. You can learn more about bus stop safety and it may make this process a little easier.

It’s not an easy task for anyone, And just just so you know, riding the bus is the safest mode of transportation there is to get children to and from school. So to help alleviate your fear as a parent, now you know that and with some important tips, you can ensure that your child will have a good year on the school bus. Here’s how you can get your child ready to ride the bus for the first time.

Teaching Your Child to Ride the Bus With This Information:

1.  The best way and the easiest way to help your child with their first “ride the bus” experience is to ride the bus with them for the first time or until they are comfortable on the bus without you. If your school doesn’t off a chance to ride the bus as a trial run before school starts, you could take your child on a town bus if you live in an area that has one. The practice run would be to get your child use to the size of the bus and the sounds that the bus makes when it is running. And, a chance for the child to get a grasp on the rules of riding the bus.

2. Teach your children bus stop safety so they know how to stay safe at the bus stop.

3. If you can get your child to understand that he needs to stay in his seat until the bus is completely stopped, he should be well on his way to learning the rest of the rules.

4. Once exiting the school bus, children should be aware that they are to cross in front of the bus. Children should never run while crossing in front of the bus, and the bus driver should be able to see them while crossing.

5. There are handrails for children to grab while entering and exiting the school bus. However, the last step getting off the bus could be a big jump for some children.

6. When either entering or exiting the school bus your child drops something he/she should notify the bus driver to make sure that it is safe for the item to be picked up.

7. When sitting in the school bus, children should face forward at all times.

8. In order to keep the aisle clear on the bus, book bags, and feet should stay out of the aisle.

9. Depending on the child’s age and size there should be no more that 2-3 children to a seat.

10. Most buses do not have seat belts (and if you want to know why – along with other school bus facts you can get it here) your child should wear the seat belt.

11. There is no need to yell and scream across the bus at someone else. Teach your child to use his inside voice on the bus so as not to become a distraction to the bus driver.

12. Tell your child if he has any problems with another child on the bus, then he should wait until the bus comes to a complete stop to get up and tell the bus driver what another student is doing and if he can, move his seat.

13. You can let your child know that when he rides the bus it is safe, but that following the rules makes it much safer.They should know that loud noises will distract the bus driver.

With these basic rules you and your child should feel better about teaching your child to ride the bus, and actually riding the bus. But, for the first week, it will still be a little scary.