Kindy field trip

[*Efjay*]

Evans school is having a field trip to see a live performance of the magic pudding.
I would like him to go. But the thing is, its 2 HOUR bus trip into the city! He is 5, on a bus with no seatbelts!! I don't want him getting there that way! Do most schools allow the parents to drive them to events like this?
I mean far out! I have only just started to let him catch the bus in the mornings which is 10 minutes to school. No way is he going unrestrained through the city for 2 hours! Then home again in peak hour!

Am I crazy for being so paranoid?

[Trillian]

FJ, I mean this in the kindest possible way, but I think you're worrying too much about this hun. When Lindsay was in kindergarten they went to see a play in a town that was 1.5hrs away and they travelled by bus too, they also had another trip to an environmental teaching centre which was further still. Not all seats had seatbelts either. You would be surprised at how well behaved they will be - the teachers do a pretty good job of making sure that no one is up running about the bus and when I was a kid and went on trips we were always given games to play like car cricket and singing etc. If you really do feel that strongly about it, then by all means ask if you can drive him there, or alternatively if you can go on the bus with them.

ETA - if travelling back in peak hour at least you know they will only be going at a snails pace

[Lulu]

Oh hun, I agree with Trillian. Kids always go on excursions by bus, not really much alternative its a pity they don't have seatbelts in them though.

[MantaRay]

FJ, I tend to agree with the others. It is inevitable that kids will have to go on public transport or school buses and the fact is that they mostly don't have seatbelts. It might not be ideal, but it's the way it is. I am sure that after the first excursion you will become more used to it. I think the biggest problem for us mums is the "firsts". I am starting to understand why mum still worried about me when I was travelling OS in my 30s!!

[*Efjay*]

I have no problem with him going by bus & I know thay they would be pretty well behaved, its the fact that if the bus was involved in an accident my 5 yr old who is normally fully restrainted in an age appropriate seat in the car would be likely to be seriously injured.

I have found out from another parentt hat the school uses the coach that has seatbelts fitted for big trips, so I am happy about that but will be confirming this with the school before sending him on the trip.

Its the idiots on the road that worry me most. Yes I know he could be involved in an accident on the way there while in my car BUT he woul dbe safer as he would be in his seat, buckled in.

[Tobily]

I have no problem with him going by bus & I know thay they would be pretty well behaved, its the fact that if the bus was involved in an accident my 5 yr old who is normally fully restrainted in an age appropriate seat in the car would be likely to be seriously injured.

I have found out from another parentt hat the school uses the coach that has seatbelts fitted for big trips, so I am happy about that but will be confirming this with the school before sending him on the trip.

Its the idiots on the road that worry me most. Yes I know he could be involved in an accident on the way there while in my car BUT he woul dbe safer as he would be in his seat, buckled in.

I agree with you fionajill - I don't think I'd be happy with it either. I consider myself a pretty reasonable and relaxed mummy but yeah, I wouldn't want her on a bus like that either for the same reason as you.

[Trillian]

In all honestly Fiona, I think that this isn't that big a deal in the scheme of things and you may be excluding him from having one of the most exciting days of his life by not letting him travel on the bus - part of the excitement of the day is getting there and imagine how great it would be for him to travel to the city in a bus, and see all the big buildings etc. I know if we had our way we would wrap them in bubble wrap and homesechool them to keep them safe, but at what cost? It is only a bus trip - he is probably more likely to be harmed walking to school than going on a bus. At the end of the day he is your child and you will let him do what you feel is safe to do. I just don't think it is a big deal is all, and my children spend 2hr on a bus to and from school - half of which is spent travelling on the busy newell highway with semi trailers and B-Doubles wizzing past at 100km an hour but if I spent all my time worrying about how safe they will be I would put myself in an early grave I'm sure.

[*Efjay*]

I don't want him to miss out on the trip on the bus but I feel his safety is more important then a fun trip. He has ben to the city heaps of times with us so that wont be new for him.
If the school isn't using the seatbelt bus he wont be catching it. Sydney drivers are just too careless.

[smiles4u]

My sister is a secondary school teacher ... and use to drive the small school bus on excursions ... She said the students (teenagers) a lot of the time wouldn't put their seatbelts on ... Which she ' even as the driver' felt unsafe about even if it were a 30min trip away

I have a girlfriend who always volunteers as an 'assistant' to help out when her daughter's have gone on long distance school excursions, she has been doing so since the older one was 5 & she is now 11

... If it were me I would volunteer to go along with your son on the excursion

Maybe not when he is older ... & hopefully there will be seatbelts in the bus by then ???

[*Efjay*]

I can't go along as I have to other little kids. They have also stated on the permission slip that parents are unable to attend this time.

[Phteven]

If the school isn't using the seatbelt bus he wont be catching it. Sydney drivers are just too careless.

I guess it's all a matter of perception lol. DH and I have been spending a lot of time out near the hawkesbury and Blue Mountains lately and TBH we find the country drivers a whole heap more scary. They go at crazy speeds on narrow bendy back roads and seem to lack the awareness of other cars/traffic sense of Sydney drivers.
I would guess that neither demographic is better at driving - they just have different styles that suit their local conditions.
That said of all the accidents I've seen in Australia the country ones seem worse - probably because they're more often high speed crashes rather than bingles in slow traffic.

my children spend 2hr on a bus to and from school - half of which is spent travelling on the busy newell highway with semi trailers and B-Doubles wizzing past at 100km an hour

That sounds like my childhood school bus ride (probably the same for half of Australia's rural population lol). I have such fond memories of those rides - they were so social because we didn't just ride with the kids from our school but also the high school kids (the big kids lol - they seemed so grown up) and the special school kids and the kids that went to the private school. Even if I wasn't feeling social I loved watching out the window (still do - old habits die hard) or having time with my book.

[*Efjay*]

I guess it's all a matter of perception lol. DH and I have been spending a lot of time out near the hawkesbury and Blue Mountains lately and TBH we find the country drivers a whole heap more scary.

LOL, I meant sydney as a whole, not just city drivers. Western Sydney/city/ blue mountains etc, everyone except me PSML!