Moms Talk: Rules, Rules, Rules

Our school bus drivers have talent that goes way beyond driving. This fall they wrote and performed a musical called "School Bus: The Musical." They sang songs, played musical instruments and played parts in a production designed to inform students of the school bus rules at all three elementary schools.  

Rather than hand out a boring list of the rules this year, the drivers decided to use humor and fun to "drive home" the rules. Did it work? 

Bus driver Dave Anderson said he drove a bus full of students just yesterday, and they sang one of the tunes from the musical all the way home. The words go something like this, "Put your back pack on your lap, sit bottom to bottom, back to back . . . " and repeat, and repeat. Dave Anderson said fellow driver Andy Anderson did a great job organizing the effort. See Superintendent Gary Plano's E-Connections email publication for more details. 

For the older kids, we might need more tools in the toolbox than humor. As they develop minds of their own, they counter us and deliver that age-old argument: "But everyone else . . . ."  Never hesitate to check out the "everyone else" argument, because 90% of the time it's inaccurate. 

One idea for older kids, is asking them what their rules will be when they are a parent. Let them fantasize about what it is like being a parent. They might be able to scrape up a little empathy in the process. 

One thing's for sure, as the navigation gets trickier, keeping the lines of communication open is really helpful.