Today’s parenting heart attack

Melissa called me today worried sick about five year old Katie. Three year old Natalie was sick, so Melissa hadn’t wanted to have to take her with to pick up Katie from school, so she called the school and told them to send Katie home on the bus.

The bus came up the street, the bus went down the street. No Katie.

Melissa kept it under control as best she could and called the school. They said Katie wasn’t there, but that sometimes a child will fall asleep in the bus. That’s why at the end of the bus route the driver walks to the back of the bus and checks for kids.

That’s when Melissa called me. I told her to call the school and have them call the bus driver on his cell phone or radio and find out if Katie was in the bus.

She called back. He didn’t have a cell phone. When he got to the end of his route and checked in they could talk to him. “Doesn’t he have a dispatch radio?” I asked.

Just about that time Melissa said she saw the bus coming back up the street. Katie was on it. The bus driver said he had finished his route and was heading back when he saw Katie’s head pop up in his rearview mirror.

Melissa asked Katie, “Why didn’t you get off the bus on our street?” Her answer? Her friend Abby was reading her a story and she wanted to find out how it ended. “You still should have gotten off the bus!” “But I wanted to see where the bus went.”

So, new rule. Either get off the bus when you’re supposed to, or no more riding the bus (which Katie loves).