Community Corner

Suffield Speaks Up: Do You Wait with Your Child at the Bus Stop?

Are fewer kids walking to the bus stop alone nowadays? Do you think it's best if parents walk to or watch over the bus stop? Patch asked, and you answered!

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Jayme Kunze, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge
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Inspired by a drive up Route 32 earlier this week, during which one Patch editor saw very few unattended students waiting to be picked up for school, Patch asked parents, 'do you walk with your kids to the bus stop?' 

Well, Suffield has answered! 

According to the Suffield Facebook page, it seems that parents are split on the issue.

Here's what Suffield parents had to say: 

  • "My third grader waits in the driveway most days by himself, but I always watch him get on the bus from inside and wave to the driver. My 6th grader walks to his bus stop with friends."
  • "My 7th grader can not leave the driveway without other kids at the bus stop"
  • "We chase our 15 year old out the door but save him the embarrassment of walking him to the corner."
According to the CDC, fewer kids are also walking and biking to school nowadays. An overwhelming 87 percent of children who lived within a mile of their school in 1969 biked or walked there, the CDC reports, but that number fell to 63 percent in 2001. 

The CDC cites increasing distances between student's homes and school buildings (due to a decrease in the number of schools) and parental fear of violent crime as contributing factors. 

Do your children walk themselves to school? How about to the bus stop? Let us know in the comments!

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