Riding The Bus

My son is Riding The Bus for the first time today- Am I a nervous wreck today thinking about my innocent baby boy doing so; ABSOLUTELY. I have had to accept that I have no control in this as it’s part of growing up. It comes with the territory of being a parent 🌻

He is extremely excited about it though. It’s my belief it will help build his socialization skills, his character and help with his separation anxiety. He has been carrying around a little yellow school bus for the last 12 hours after we we had a talk yesterday about what Riding The Bus is like.

Riding The Bus...

Helps Build Character

Riding the bus builds up our character. How do we learn how to handle conflict unless we are confronted with it? While some children are unfortunately exposed to more conflict than they should be early on in life, others experience little to none in their lives.

Teaches Responsibility

Riding the bus teaches children to have to be on time. To memorize, know and locate their bus number and pay attention to your surrounding when waiting at the bus stop and crossing the street. These are all skills our children should learn early in life and continue to grow from into adulthood.

Gives us an Opportunity to be a Good Example to Others

Riding the bus gives children an opportunity to set an example for others. While we all wish we could keep our children son in a bubble for as long as humanly possible; that only hinders them as an adult. It’s important for children to not exist in the world today, but be a piece and part of it. Doing the right thing, despite what the other children are doing sets those with integrity and those without apart.

Teaches Respect of Authority and How to Follow The Rules

Riding the bus can encourage children to make good choices and gives them the opportunity to do the right thing, even if no one is watching. Its important for children to understand the importance and value in choosing to follow rules and instructions. In addition, teaches a child to respect the one in charge, who has the authority while driving the bus.

Creates Friendships

Riding the bus gives children a chance to create friendships, develop bonds with other children they know and have back a piece of that sense of community that we’re so lacking in our culture today.

When I began thinking about today’s blog topic; Riding The Bus metaphorically speaking, has created life lessons we as humans need at a fundamental level. Our experiences, even those we hate, shape us into the men and women we are today.

We like to think of "growing up" as a modern phenomenon. The first day of school, Riding The Bus, our first love and our first heartbreak are all the start to things we encounter in real life. Then we move into teenage angst, conflict with family member, having good grades, college application, having no idea what to major to pick in college and what we want to be when we grow up. These seem unique to our time—but really, the concept of “growing up” is still a thing as an adult; because everything we experience can shape us into present day adulthood

I spent the better part of my early adult life “growing up” standing a 14-hour watch daily over on the Middle Eastern waters. Instead of picking out my outfit for my first day of college classes I wore a uniform with multiple weapons strapped to me and stood by for orders given to me by higher authority to engage on any foreign enemy threatening United States naval territory. Not everyone follows a traditional sense of life as times have changed. But if we learn fundamentally right from wrong, we have the chance to succeed even if not in the traditional way most expect us to. Families are more divided and diverse then they have ever been and the world as we know it is not the same world most of us in our thirties and older have lived.

"Growing up” became a problem in the middle of the 18th century, which was the first time people actually had the choice to become something other than what their parents were.

I know many adults; specifically one who today comes in mind more than others, who could of benefitted from the fundamentals Riding The Bus teaches.

Society is full of so many different human flesh who come from educated/non-educated backgrounds. There are so many scared people who come from an abusive upbringing, who may have been abandoned as a child. There are those who suffer from injury and illness we see physically and those we can’t see from the outside looking in. Anyone you simply cross paths with whether, Riding The Bus, standing next to in a grocery store, sitting next to in a college class, or someone you pass on the street or in a parking lot, may have just lost a parent or a spouse. They may have just returned from war and seen their brothers and sisters killed in action. They may be suffering from an abusive marriage or grieving the divorce of their new ex-spouse. They may be failing out of college, or not living up to their parents expectations and feel like a failure. They may be thousands of dollars in debt and can’t find a job or the job they have isn’t enough to feed the mouths of their family. That person may be struggling with an addiction, trauma, assault, emotional abuse, financial hardship, mental illness or legal matters. That human being may be dying of cancer, they may be homeless or have no family or loved ones left in their life.

Experiences shape us into who we are and sometimes we become many of the types of people listed above. I am so tired of the disrespect people have for others opinions, thoughts or feelings. I am tired of the sheer entitlement, the narcissistic relationships I personally find myself in and of so many men in how they treat women and vice versa. We make our own choices and again our experiences shape us into who we are as an adult in this present day world. That is our own battle and story to fight. But we have no room to judge and look down at others for the experiences that they have been shaped into. It’s really not that hard to just be nice, respect others, acknowledge those who are good to you and be a good person.

The equivalent to “growing up” for adults AKA “adulting” is simply called maturity and mutual respect. You can tactfully make a point discussing things with others and can do so in a manner of not being heartless. Not doing so in a way that hurts others to the core of who they are as a person.

I have learned a lot over the past decade of my life and learned even more so after sacrificing many of my liberties serving this sometimes ungrateful country. Returning to the United States after my time serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, that there are some heartless people, who it is my belief, never rode the bus growing up. They were likely the same types of kids who never learned how to play nice in the sandbox, then later judged others based of their own self entitlement. Now as they have grown into adulthood, they do what they want, when they want and care minimally how it makes others feel. They lack the basic fundamentals Riding The Bus instills in you and take no responsibility for their actions and lack accountability in society.

I am not saying I am perfect and know the answers to life and how to navigate through it successfully; but experience, real life problems, conflict, counting pennies, mental illness, trauma and social anxiety are very prevalent and real in today‘s society. These things shape us into who we are, even if it isn’t what society or our interpersonal relationships with others tells us is acceptable.

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Unless we start acknowledging what is the truth to others and standing up for feelings that are real to us and doing so in a manner that doesn’t project entitlement, then we will continue to breed a society of little to no empathy in this world. We have to have the hard conversations with our children, if not they may never learn how to have the hard conversations with their partners later in life.

In a previous posts, I noted that “our children our not ours to have for forever“ That we as parents are given the gift of our children and it is our sole responsibility to raise them up to live, survive, be humble and flourish on their own in this crazy world.

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My hope today is that although my son may be scared after school when mommy isn’t there to pick him up, that he becomes stronger, gains more patience and builds character from Riding The Bus. In the meantime I’ll be chewing all my fingernails off, watching the clock like a hawk and waiting for it to be time to pick him up afterwards.

Happy Wednesday