Children Catching the Bus

lindseykim13

I was worried when i read the start of your post op but when i read that it was to be a saturday evening i would be more concerned. Your more likely to get the trouble making teens on the bus at that time of day around here.
During the day i wouldn't be so worried but i wouldn't let my 10yr old go on a sat night.

Dunroamin

lindseykim13 wrote: »

I was worried when i read the start of your post op but when i read that it was to be a saturday evening i would be more concerned. Your more likely to get the trouble making teens on the bus at that time of day around here.
During the day i wouldn't be so worried but i wouldn't let my 10yr old go on a sat night.

Football matches normally finish before 5 in the afternoon.

nfollows1982

Dunroamin wrote: »

Football matches normally finish before 5 in the afternoon.

Indeed it does! It's not like I'm sending him home on the bus at 10pm on a Saturday night.

To answer the other previous points, yes my mum is going to approach DS mum about the subject next weekend as we need to make a decision about his season ticket for next year.

I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request but at the same time I don’t want to jeopardise my relationship with my son having waited so patiently to get it back on track.

The football is helping me rebuild my relationship with my son, away from all the madness of home and the girls, so it is important to make sure I don’t upset that again.

JimmyTheWig

nfollows1982 wrote: »

we need to make a decision about his season ticket for next year.

I haven't seen your other thread, and obviously you need to do what is right for your situation, but personally an extra hour's travel for me wouldn't make the difference between going and not going.
I totally agree it makes more sense for him to get the bus, but if anyone relevant objects then I'd say it was still worth going and taking him home yourself.

marisco_2

I think a 12 year old should be capable of making that journey. At that age most are travelling to and from school by bus and walking some distance at either end. If they are being seen on and off the bus and the driver is aware that they are by themselves then they are safe enough.

A 40 minute bus ride does not necessarily mean they are travelling that far. On a recent occasion when my car broke down I had to take the bus into town. It had been years since I had done this and I naively thought it would take no time at all. How wrong was I _pale_

It took me over half an hour to reach my destination due to the bus going 'round the houses'. This normally takes me 10 minutes in the car.

dandelionclock30

I think OP is right to be cautious to some extent as its not just the maturity of her child that's the issue, its their ability to deal with idiots and odd situations on the bus as well. Like what to do if someone starts throwing stuff at them, or swearing or touching them on the knee etc.
I would go through with all the basics,telling them to sit near the driver if there's a problem etc and give them a mobile phone etc.Also I tell them to stand up for elderly people,pregnant women and disabled people etc and not be getting into arguments etc.
Its only a few weeks since that young girl got stabbed to death on a bus on the way to school.So I think its wise to cover everything but to be sensible and allow children some freedom as well.

fawd1

tyllwyd wrote: »

You are allowing a 16 year old girl to travel to Nice by train by herself? (or with friends a similar age?) That's quite a difference from a bus ride to the next town! My biggest practical worry would be what would happen if things went wrong - her money got stolen or she lost her passport. She's still officially a minor, so would she have trouble sorting things out, even if she is a very capable person?

Sorry haven't read all of the thread but just thought I'd comment on this.
I assume her mother is aware she is sensible. Therefore, losing passport, money, tickets etc can all be dealt with in the same way that we'd deal with it as adults, by making a phone call or two. I travelled from London to Boston by myself at this age and amazingly, nothing happened to me. I didn't have minders, or anything else. I just followed instructions and was fine.

I think we all make the mistake of assuming that teenagers are incapable. They're not. When I was 15, not only was I working as a babysitter, including overnight stays (I once was taken to Liverpool to babysit for a party and then given a train ticket back home to London) but there was no way that I wasn't capable of getting a bus by myself, whether that was cross country or cross continent.

valk_scot

My mum let me go to Greece with a friend when I was 16, my friend was 16 as well. Not on a package holiday either, we travelled down to London from Scotland and then got on a coach for three days, then spent four weeks island hopping. This was back in the days when you had to book an international call from a main post office to call home, we phoned our parents once each that month. Amazingly, apart from a bad case of sunburn we survived unscathed though we were definately a bit more streetwise by the end of the trip!

But to get back on track, my DS would have been more than capable of that sort of journey by the time he was 11/12. By that age he was going by bus and train up to our local city, a journey of about an hour, with his mates on a Saturday afternoon to go to the games shops etc. It's easy these days with mobile phones, if they get lost or loose their ticket or whatever they can phone home for assistance or advice.

securityguy

fawd1 wrote: »

I think we all make the mistake of assuming that teenagers are incapable.

As can be deduced from the tiny minority of university applicants who are able, or possibly allowed, to get themselves to a university and back for an open day or interview.

Dunroamin

securityguy wrote: »

As can be deduced from the tiny minority of university applicants who are able, or possibly allowed, to get themselves to a university and back for an open day or interview.

And my generation of applicants happily trotted around the UK alone, on the train, for our university interviews and thought little of it..