My son goes to before and after school care at the local rec centre. It has a pool, gym, play areas. He likes it. Twenty minutes before school starts, they load him and his classmates up on the bus and send him to school. He particularly likes it because he likes to ride the bus.
I guess a few weeks ago, he missed the bus. I don’t know how this happens because he’s there, they get the kids on the bus. Either they forgot about him, he was in the bathroom or the missed him - and he missed the bus. He’s on the last bus, so when it comes, all the kids left need to get on the bus.
He says to me today, “The other day I missed the bus and I went to school in Sandi’s red car.”
I guess the lady in charge of B&A care drove him to school.
“Did you have a booster seat?” I asked. And I ask this because he’s not the biggest kid. In fact, he’s small. Wee even. Short, not yet 40 lbs and he still rides in a five-point harness in my truck.
“No.”
I’ll admit. I saw red. How dare she take my child in a vehicle when he’s not properly buckled in!? He said it was a shoulder belt and I immediately had visions of him in a front seat with an airbag poised to take his head off when it deploys.
I’m mad. I’m mad because she should have just called, or had the bus take him later.
I know the bus has no seatbelts… but I was a bus driver for two years and kids are safer in a bus with no seatbelts than they are unproperly restrained in a car.
My immediate reaction is to call her and yell. Ok, that’s not a great idea.
Other reactions are to pull him out of B&A care next year and go with the set-up they have at school because it’s easier and there are no buses. Or to call her boss and explain my concern and explain why what she did was dangerous. Can you imagine the lawsuit if a child was injured or killed while being driven to school improperly restrained by someone who wasn’t supposed to be driving him in the first place?
What would you do?
