Waiting For The Bus - December 6, 2013

December 6, 2013

I decided to take a few pictures so we could remember our experiences of waiting for the bus.  Waiting for the bus is not my most favorite thing to do, but I love my kiddos, so I got to do it.  An average morning goes like this: As we get closer, Parker and Brinley's friends see them coming and they run to us.  The kids all talk excitedly as we walk the rest of the way to the bus stop.  Then they all run over to a pile and start running around and playing.  I call it a pile, because that's really what it is.  In the fall it's a pile of leaves and weeds pushed off to the side and in the winter, it is where the snow plow piles the snow.  The kids love to play in that pile.  I watch the kids play and every once in a while, one of them will come over and visit with me.  Usually on the cold mornings or when one of them is feeling sad.  As soon as one of the kids spots the bus coming they  point it out and tell the kids near them.  Then someone usually yells, "The bus is coming!"  All the kids race toward the corner where the bus stops and they line up.  There is usually a lot of pushing as they are lining up.  There are a few boys that like to wrestle.  This is the time they usually start wrestling as they are trying to push each other out of the way.  Their wrestling always ends up taking them out of the line, so most of the time, they are the last kids to get on the bus.  Everyone gets on the bus, a few of the kids wave at me from the window as the bus drives away, then I turn around and head back home.

One morning, when I went to the bus stop, I had a sad talk with one of the girls.  It was snowing and the roads were really icy.  As we were getting closer to the bus stop, I noticed a bunch of the kids playing in the road.  They were trying to slide on the ice and pretend that they were ice skating.  It looked like fun, the only problem was they were in the middle of the road.  They all moved when a car came, but it was still a very dangerous game to be playing.  The roads were soooo icy and it was hard for the cars to stop.  We were almost there, when I saw one car stop and roll down their window.  All the kids were looking as the person in the car was talking to them, then the car drove away.  When I got up there, I asked all of the kids to get out of the road.  I explained how dangerous their game was.  They all told me that the car stopped to yell at them, because Sydney (Brinley's friend) had run up and tried to hit the side of their car while they were driving or something like that.  I can't believe how dangerous and scary some of the things these kids do.  No other parents walk with their kids to the bus stop.  I'm usually the only parent there.  The kids are always getting into trouble or doing something dangerous.  I wish more parents realized or cared enough to be there and make sure their kids are safe.  After I had asked the kids to get out of the road on that icy morning, they all came back to the sidewalk where they were safe, except one little girl who decided to sit on the curb with her feet sticking out into the road.  I asked her to come stand on the sidewalk.  I explained how dangerous a spot she was sitting in and how I'm sure her parents would be so upset if she got hit by a car or something terrible happened to her.  She told me, "No they won't."  She explained that she knew her parents wouldn't care, because her mom is always in and out of jail and doesn't really care about her.  She said that her mom and dad yelled at her all day yesterday and she knew that they didn't love her or care what happened to her.  I tried my best to convince her that they did love her and they would care what happened to her.  But she didn't move from that spot until the bus got there.  I felt so sad for her.  She was such a cute little girl and seemed like such a nice person.  It is frustrating and so sad to see kids suffering because of their home life and the way their parents treat them.  The little girl that I used to babysit has a lot of hard times because her mom leaves her to fend for herself a lot.  It makes me so sad and so mad that parents are like that and can be so mean and selfish.