A matter of trust

Okay, I truly believe in forshadowing. I find it ironic that just a few days ago, a friend of mine shared a horror story about her nephew's first week of school. In a nutshell, he's a kindergartener and there was a mixup at the school about his childcare situation. The little boy was dropped off by the bus driver by his house with no one there to meet him. This poor kid sat in front of his house for a half hour before a neighor realized he was alone and invited him over til his parents could track him down. Every parent's nightmare scenario, eh? Well, this happened to me today.



My son is always supposed to ride the bus and go to the childcare provider's house, unless I send a note with different instructions. Sounds simple enough, well apparently not. First off, my son got mixed up about where he was supposed to go and therefore confused the school staff (for the second time in a week). Luckily, they followed my previous instructions and sent him on the bus anyway. Well, Nicky was still confused about where he was supposed to go and no one was at the bus stop to meet him. A couple of neighbor boys invited Nicky over to their house where their uncle was and so he went with them (nobody knew this though). For some unknown reason, the driver let him get off and went about his day. When my babysitter's daughter arrived to pick him up (at the wrong time), she called the school to find out where he was. They had no idea and started calling around.

I was at work (student teaching placement) and had no idea what was going on until my husband, Kevin called to tell me that Nicky was missing. I had to leave the class and make a gazillion phone calls. The chronology of this might be a bit off, so bear with me. I contacted the school to see what was happening. They said they thought Nicky had gotten off the bus somewhere and nobody knew where. My childcare provider was out combing the neighborhood looking for him. I had inkling that maybe he had gone over to our neighbor's house and to check there. Turns out my instinct was right. The principal and his teacher had gone looking for him themselves and found him there. They showed their ID badges and took him over to the babysitter's house. I finally got a call saying he was okay and safe. The call came just in time as I had been knocking at the door of feeling frantic.

My first issue is with the bus driver. Why would he let a 5 year old child get off the bus without an adult or somebody like that there to meet him. Usually if that happens, the driver is to take the child back to the school. It also seems odd that my neigbhor wasn't there to meet him on time. It turned out that they got the times mixed up. Mondays the school lets out a half hour earlier, so I understand that these things can happen so I'm not upset about that so much. What concerns me is that my babysitter can't assure me that someone will be there everytime to meet my son. We are strongly considering sending Nicky to afterschool care at a professional daycare, not private homecare on school days. The babysitter lives only a block away from the bus stop, so it's a big deal to have to walk up the way a little. I really like my childcare provider, but this is a big issue we have to deal with. I'm gonna give a little time and see how things go and decide at that point.

There is nothing like not knowing where your child is. People have called me a worrywart for some of my concerns about the bus, the school, and my some of my childcare person's policies. I like to feel that all my ducks are in a row and expect that of people taking care of my kids. Overall, they are responsible. Yet there seems to be a domino effect happening. You want to trust the people who watch over your children, but I am getting very nervous here. Makes me feel bad for not being able to be there everyday. Though I try my best, Supermom I'm not.


Here are the reasons why I plead temporary insanity for this ranting blog. First my son gets picked on by kid on the bus. Then there is confusion as to how he gets home (even though I'd explained it to them before). Next, they couldn't figure out where he was supposed to be this morning and swore they sent a note home about who his assigned teacher would be. They insisted I shouldn've gotten the note and wouldn't take my word for it until another teacher stepped in. She clarified that notes for his class hadn't been sent home yet. I got it tonight and it stated that as of this morning he was to go to a different class. Nice to get the info after the fact, eh? Then the big fiasco this afternoon with him missing. When it rains it pours I guess. It's all a matter of trust, I am just having trouble faith in people lately. I realize no one is immune to mistakes, but how many need to be made with people entrusted with children before something really bad happens? I agree with the old adage that every chain is only as strong as its weakest link.