Toddler too young for the school bus?

[HKfornow]

Hello, I am just wondering how many parents here send their toddlers off to school on the school bus? Mine is 27 months old and just started school. For now, I can ride with him to school, but after the end of the month, he's on his own.

My concern is, how will one bus mother watch out for all those kids? and the seatbelts that they have are too big to hold my son in, plus he can unbuckle himself from the seatbelt in 0.01 seconds flat (this was the game he played all the way home today, so I'm quite appalled, what will happen when no one is watching).

For those of you that do send your children in the bus, how long did it take for them to adjust & get used to it? How safe do feel about sending them with the bus company?

I see lots of kids in our complex take the school bus and seem well adjusted, no crying, no tantrums. Am I being unreasonably paranoid here?

Any thoughts would be truly appreciated!

[a mom]

Hey, I was pretty worried as well at first but gradually became comfortable. I still get antsy when the bus is late in dropping my son off or when the roads are wet! I do think that you're going to have to find some solution for the ill-fitting, easy to remove seat belt.That isn't paranoia, that's a logical worry and its good you are in the bus for the month so you can see this problem and find a solution.

[HKfornow]

I've brought the bus mother's attention to the seat belt issue, (too big & easy to unbuckle), she claims they've never had that problem before, and said that they will tighten my son's seatbelt to make it more snug and wrap a towel on his seatbelt to cover the buckles. . . NEXT MONTH. . . which means I won't get to see the changes. . . or they don't intend to implement the changes and are just blowing me off. . .somehow this does not make me have the warm fuzzies in leaving my toddler in their care.

[loupou]

My eldest was 24 months when she started riding the school bus. First day w/ me. The second day by herself. She cried every day getting on the bus for about 2 weeks. Then she got used to it. I think the bus amah or the driver would sometimes give her a Sugu to stop the tears. She always came home happy.

As far as safety and seatbelts went, I wasn't too worried. She would sit next to the bus amah for the first part of the ride and then would be paired w/ an older child. I don't think the bus was equipped w/ seat belts (but this was about 5 years ago).

My son started riding when he was 30 months old. He sat next to his sister.

We never had any problems.

[Vivian]

My girl walked to the school with our helper at the beginning, one week later the teacher let her take bus home, another week or a few days later (i dont' remember clearly) , she went to the school by bus too. She was two years seven months then. anyway, our home is near to the school. the bus ride only takes 5-10 minutes.