Just when I think our bus drama is over I’m dragging my 5 year old kicking and screaming down to the bus stop.

He’s screaming he doesn’t want to go to school, and for Cameron that is saying a lot. The kid LOVES school, and has never once tried to stay home, even when he was sick. I ask him why he doesn’t want to go to school and he just keeps repeating himself over and over. In an effort to get some kind of answer out of him I tell him I’ll keep him home if he has a real reason not to go. Through sobs he says he doesn’t want to get on bus 42, he misses his friends from bus 60. If you’re not sure what all this means, check out Adventures In Bus Riding and More Adventures In Bus Riding for more info on our bus situation.

My heart instantly breaks.

I truly think that he’s intimidated by some of the kids on the bus. Cameron is not small for his age, but there are some big kids that ride the bus with him. Apparently it’s not cool to sit in the back of the bus anymore because all these big kids situate themselves right around Cameron. I’ve seen with my own eyes that some of these kids take advantage of his kind, naive nature. Some of what I have seen at pick up and again at drop off shows me that some of these kids lack basic manners and decency.

Part of me is afraid that there is something more sinister going on. Is he being bullied on the bus? I’m new to all this, I have no idea where to start. I want to ask questions but I don’t want to lead him into saying anything that might not be the real story. You know how kids can be, they sometimes give you the answers they think you want to hear.

So here I sit, not sure what to do, not sure what questions to ask. Bus 60 still drives right passed the house so I don’t think it would be a hardship for them to switch Cameron back to his old bus. But can I really justify asking them to do that just because he misses his friends?

UGH, who knew this parenting thing would be so hard?

If you have any insight for me, please share it. I feel absolutely terrible that my little guy is sad (and maybe even something more) and I can’t make it all better. Isn’t that my job as a mother?

How could anyone ever be mean to that sweet little guy?

It hasn’t been that long since I was a student in the public school system. I look back on my education and I have some pretty fond memories, sure there were some really bad teachers, but there were a lot of good ones and even a few great ones.

I wouldn’t go so far to say that school was fun, but it wasn’t nearly as strict as it is now. I get that some of the changes in schools are for the protection of the students. I went to school in the pre Columbine era, before schools were on lockdown during school hours.

Lockdown isn’t the only major difference since my time in school. Um, where did Halloween go? When I was in school, we had parties. We dressed up. We had fun. This Halloween was just another day  at school for Cameron, which was a surprise for him since his preschool made a big deal out of Halloween. I don’t let my kids sit around all day eating candy, in fact candy is pretty rare for them, but I do believe in candy for Halloween. Cameron’s school booster club hosted a Halloween parade and party one night and they specifically asked for no candy. They were giving the kids stickers, pencils and erasers. COME ON!!!

When I was a kid, my mom made cupcakes or some other yummy treat for me to bring in for my birthday to share with the class. I will never know what it feels like to stay up all night making treats for the boys to bring to school. If I want to send something in to school, it has to be store bought, packaged and nut free. Who wants to bring in store bought crap to celebrate the birth of their child? So here we a again, back to pencils, stickers and erasers. I get that there are kids with food allergies, so I guess I understand the rule as much as I don’t like it. Food allergies are also something new since I was a kid, no one I knew was allergic to food.

The kicker for me was Cameron’s classroom. Over the summer, we were sent a list of school supplies for the coming school year. I found everything on the list and labeled the items with his name (like the paperwork said to). I let him pick out special tissue packs with Cars on them. I got him the cool looking bottle of hand sanitizer so it would stand out for him. Then I went to the parent’s night. I opened his cubby and there is EMPTY pencil box sat. Where did all his stuff go? All the school supplies I bought for my son were put in the community pile. All the crayons, just dumped into baskets. Same with the pencils, erasers, glue sticks and scissors. The bottle of hand sanitizer was sitting on the teacher’s desk for all to use. The teacher explained that she runs the room as a community, so they all share everything. Hey, I’m all for sharing but this is going a little far. Who knows, maybe I’m being over sensitive, but I think Cameron deserves to have his own stuff in his own little pencil case.

I don’t know, maybe as we move through the school system, things will start to feel a little less foreign.

Do you have school aged children? Does their school seem like a strange and different place than you remember it?