10 Ways to Potty Train Without Using Training Pants

Posted on September 4, 2017

The Real Diaper Association estimates that the average family spends up to $1,600 on disposable diapers during the first two years of a child’s life. In addition to being expensive, disposable diapers also trap moisture against your little one’s delicate skin, often resulting in painful diaper rash that can leave her uncomfortable and irritable.

When the time to toilet train your child arrives, the idea of using what’s essentially a disposable diaper vaguely shaped like underwear may not be particularly appealing to you, especially if she’s prone to rashes and your budget is tight. While disposable training pants have become a widely accepted tool for potty training toddlers since they were first commercially introduced in 1989, parents have been helping their children reach this milestone for centuries without the assistance of these relatively expensive and decidedly non-eco friendly products.

These 10 tips can help you make the switch from diapers to the potty, without resorting to disposable training pants.

Be Prepared and Patient – Learning to use the potty is a major transition for your child, and it isn’t one that’s likely to happen overnight. In the weeks leading up to the big day, take any available opportunities to prepare your little one to discard her diapers. It’s also wise to prepare yourself for a few setbacks. Even the most eager and dedicated parent will struggle with potty training a child that isn’t ready, so remember that this is a big step for her and try to be patient.
Invest in a Moisture-Resistant Mattress Cover – Nighttime accidents are an unfortunate reality for almost all children, especially in the early days of potty training. If you’re determined not to use disposable training pants or diapers at all, it’s a good idea to purchase a barrier to protect your child’s mattress.
Talk About the Potty – Even if your toddler isn’t excessively verbal, she’s still able to understand basic concepts when you explain them to her. Take the time to talk about why she needs to use the potty, both in the days leading up to the transition and during the toilet training process.
Offer Visual Representations – Using dolls or reading one of the many illustrated children’s books on the subject of potty training can help your child grasp the concept a bit more firmly by providing her with visual representations.
Maintain Method Consistency – If you’re determined to go cold turkey, with no diapers and no disposable training pants, it’s important that you consistently maintain these practices. Getting frustrated with the process and slapping a diaper or pair of disposable trainers on your child will only send her mixed messages and make it more difficult for her to make the transition from diapered child to a fully potty trained one.
Frequently Ask Her if She Needs to Potty – When your child is actively engaged in an enjoyable activity, there’s a very good chance that she’s so absorbed in what she’s doing that she doesn’t notice the urge to use the bathroom. Making a habit of reminding your child about the potty and asking her if she needs to use it can reduce the frequency of accidents caused by distraction.
Visit the Bathroom Often – Though you should ask your child if she needs the potty on a regular basis, it’s also wise to insist you visit the restroom together fairly often as well. Until your child learns to recognize the sensation of needing to eliminate and is able to connect it with a trip to the potty, she’ll rely on you to help her avoid accidents.
Reward Successful Restroom Trips – If your parenting philosophy includes rewards for good behavior and successfully reaching milestones, make sure that you provide a reward each time your child uses the potty to reinforce the behavior.
Communicate With Childcare Providers – Your efforts to maintain a consistent method of potty training will be foiled if your nanny or daycare provider puts a diaper or disposable training pants on your child the moment you leave. Make sure that her caregiver is on the same page as you, and is willing to maintain the same training practices that you do when you’re at home.
Consider Elimination Communication – If you’re able to devote the time and energy required into the infant toilet training method of elimination communication, you can almost forgo the entire diapering process. According to Contemporary Pediatrics, almost half of the children in the world never wear diapers and are completely potty trained by the time they’re a year old. This method is largely used in Africa and Asia, but is becoming more popular with North American parents.

Because disposable training pants feel and act so much like the diapers that your child is accustomed to wearing, they can actually impede the toilet training process for some children. By wicking moisture away from your child’s skin initially, disposable trainers can make it difficult for her to realize that she’s wet. While this can make them an ideal choice for overnight use in some cases, using them throughout the day can easily confuse a child who still feels like she’s wearing the same diapers she’s always worn.

Photo: PullUps

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Parents are Accidentally Feeding Their Children Dog Biscuits But There is a Reason Why

Posted on August 30, 2017

A mom in Australia accidentally packed Scooby Snacks dog food biscuits in her children’s lunch boxes thinking they were human snacks. After discovering her error, Sydney mom Tania Toomey took to Facebook to warn other parents.

In a Facebook post warning, said she purchased a packet of Scooby Snacks choc-friendly carob biscuits from her local supermarket, not realizing it was dog food, although the packaging does say “pet food only”, it was colorfully designed to attract children and was also located in the aisle at the grocery store with other snacks for humans.

“I bought these from the biscuit isle next to the Tiny Teddies at Woolies in North Strathfield,” she wrote. “Terrible and disgraceful, not to mention dangerous!”

Her kids came home from school and told her “yuck, they are disgusting!”

“BE CAREFUL the store is very disorganized and very little healthy option snacks for children in a family area,” Ms Toomey wrote in her Facebook complaint.

The Woolworths denied that Scooby Snacks are stocked in the confectionery aisle of their supermarkets, Yahoo! reports.

This is not the first time either this has happened. Back in June, some New Zealand parents complained about accidentally buying the snacks for their kids. In a report about that incidents, some also said the snacks look like the Tiny Teddies snacks sold in that country.

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Back to School: We Think Gymboree Makes The Cutest Top Quality Clothes for Kids

Posted on August 29, 2017

Gymboree Kids Clothing Newborn to Size 12

Because it is back to school season and parents are on the hunt for deals and top quality clothing for their school-aged children returning to school after the Summer Break, we are sharing some of the cool and super cute clothing that our affiliate partners at various children’s clothiers and brands are offering for sale this season.

We are starting with Gymboree.

This is a personal fave brand of the blog because we know from first hand experience that the quality of the clothing is superior. They last in the wash and the colors do not fade. The brand is known for selling very well coordinated pieces with whimsical characters or in solids, neutrals and other long-lasting hues. The clothing is made of natural materials mostly, and they look really cute.

Gymboree sells from baby to tween. Click to be taken to the site on any of these below featured images:

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12 Ways to Keep the Spark In Your Marriage After Baby

Posted on August 27, 2017

While it’s no secret to any couple past the honeymoon stage that marriage requires work in order to be successful, it can come as a surprise to new parents just how much raising children changes the dynamic of a marriage. Keeping the ever-elusive “spark” alive after babies come along can be one of the biggest challenges that a married couple faces, but it’s absolutely possible.

These 12 pointers can help you maintain the great relationship you have, even when the demands of parenthood begin to weigh on you both.

1. Put in the Effort – It may seem simple on the surface, but just remembering to put some effort towards maintaining your marriage when you’re exhausted, mired in the world of potty training or just trying to keep up with a demanding family schedule can be a challenge. Just like anything else worth having, a marriage does require at least some effort from both parties to continue running smoothly.

2. Try to Focus on the Good Things – Becoming fixated on the frustrating aspects of your marriage is easy, but it’s also poisonous. Trying to keep the things you love most about your partner and your lives together at the forefront of your mind will require some dedication, but it can have very positive results in the long run.

3. Compliments, Compliments – There are a thousand things you love about your spouse, but the hectic pace of everyday life can make remembering to appreciate those things difficult. Making a point of complimenting your spouse each day shows appreciation for them and can be the balm that frazzled nerves need during high-stress moments.

4. Avoid Taking Stress Out On Your Spouse – Letting off steam is normal, but it can become problematic when you’re expressing your frustration with an unrelated situation by attacking your spouse. It’s easy to take stress out on those closest to you, but it’s difficult to repair the damage that type of behavior can have on your relationship.

5. Make Time for One Another – Time probably isn’t something that you have very much of, which makes it all the more significant when you set a sliver of your precious free time aside to spend with your spouse.

6. Remember That Your Partner is Not a Mind-Reader – You may have a running list of things that need to be done in your head, but you shouldn’t expect your partner to be able to read that list. You have to communicate your needs and expectations to your spouse if you expect them to be met, so don’t fall into the trap of expecting them to just know what you need without direction.

7. Don’t Be Too Proud to Apologize – Flying off the handle is easy when you’re in the pressure cooker that is raising children on a tight schedule. When you’ve had time to cool off, however, don’t let your pride stand in the way of a much-warranted apology, especially if you’ve realized that your reaction wasn’t necessary.

8.Assume the Best – When you’re stressed, tired and in sore need of a break, it’s easy to assume the worst as you’re trying to decipher the inscrutable actions of your spouse. Rather than believing the worst-case scenario is just around the corner, try to assume the best intentions were the motivation behind any behavior you don’t understand.

9. Small Gestures Go a Long Way – A sweet greeting card snagged from the rack at the market, a favorite food prepared for dinner and other small gestures like these can add up in big ways, especially when they’re the bright spot in a challenging day. Remembering to do these things amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life isn’t always easy, but it’s almost always worth the effort.

10. Seek Spontaneity – Look for every opportunity to do something lighthearted and unexpected, even when you can only grab a few moments in which to do so. Just because your impromptu road trip days have come to an end doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice every shred of spontaneity in your marriage.

11. Remember That You’re Playing on the Same Team – When little grievances add up to big problems, you can easily lose sight of the fact that you and your spouse are on the same team and are pursuing a common goal. Rather than seeing your spouse as the opposition, try to shift your perspective.

12.Be Adults Together – In a sea of diapers, cartoons and juice boxes, there isn’t always room for a grown-up discussion that doesn’t center around the practical aspects of running a household. Just spending a kid-free hour of television time together before bed can create interesting talking points. Every couple has their own shared favorite pastimes, but it’s important to spend time together being adults, not just oversized kid-wranglers.

Some marital issues require the assistance of a totally neutral third party, which is why marriage counseling can be so beneficial. There’s a fairly common misconception that seeking counseling is the last-ditch effort to save a marriage that’s failing, but that isn’t always the case. Don’t be afraid to seek the help of a mediator when you’re having a completely natural rough patch in your relationship, especially as you’re trying to adjust to parenthood together.

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6 Reasons Why You Should Take the TV Out of Your Child’s Room

Posted on August 23, 2017

These days, it seems like every kid has a television in his room.

There’s no doubt that the addition of a television to a child’s bedroom allows parents a bit more freedom in terms of their own TV watching habits, but there are more than a few drawbacks to allowing kids to have their own TV. Staying strong in the face of kids’ pleas and assertions that everyone else has a television isn’t always easy, but these are some of the reasons why you’ll want to give very real thought to staying strong.

Adhering to American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines The American Academy of Pediatrics posits that the average American child spends approximately seven hours out of each day being entertained by electronic media. They also draw a correlation between the excessive use of television, computers and video games and attention problems, academic struggles, obesity and eating disorders. The AAP recommends that parents limit the amount of screen time their kids get, and that kids “media diet” be carefully monitored. Putting a television in your child’s room allows him almost unfettered access, and can make it nearly impossible to monitor his watching habits properly.
Helping Kids Maintain a Sleep Schedule Just as adults can become so absorbed in the plot of a television show that they stay up far later than they intended, children can too. A TV in your child’s room can very easily affect his sleeping habits, both through direct distraction from sleep and because the background noise of a television left on all night can disrupt sleep patterns. Unless the idea of an exhausted, cranky child appeals to you, you may not want to give in to begging for a personal television set.
Providing a Distraction-Free Homework Zone For some kids, the slightest distraction can derail their efforts to complete homework assignments or study. Creating a distraction-free zone in your child’s room can keep him out of the high-traffic common areas of your home, but the television lurking in the corner can present just as much of a distraction risk. When there’s no television to resist, your child is facing one less potential distraction.
Making Punishments Count If punishments or time-outs are part of your parenting style, you may very well find that banishment to a bedroom isn’t much of a deterrent for bad behavior when there’s a TV in the room. When your child is able to tune into whatever programming he wants, away from the need to compromise with a sibling or deal with the rest of the family, time-out or grounding to a bedroom becomes something more akin to a treat than a punishment.
Increasing Your Ability to Filter Objectionable Content Making sure that your child isn’t exposed to explicit or violent content on television is difficult enough when the TV is in a common area. Filtering objectionable programming that he’s watching in his room is almost impossible. Even stations that normally cater to kids’ tastes and developmental levels throughout the day often switch to more mature programming for late-night audiences. A child that tunes into his favorite channel may not realize that a racy cartoon is for adults until he’s exposed to content far beyond his maturity level. When television time isn’t happening behind closed doors, you’re better able to keep an eye on the programming to which he is being exposed.
To Monitor Television Habits It’s difficult to know just how much television your child is watching if he’s spending most of his time in his bedroom with ready access to a TV. Because it’s so important to monitor the amount of time your children spend in front of the television, you may want to consider the difficulties of doing so when he has his own TV.

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5 Ways for Your Tween and Teen to Be Fit and Healthy

Posted on August 20, 2017

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that students who are physically active tend to have better grades, that higher physical fitness levels are associated with improved cognitive performance, and that those who participate in physical activities have fewer disciplinary problems.

Add to that the fact that they will be laying the foundation for a healthy lifestyle and creating great habits, and it’s a great deal all around. Yet many teens and their parents have questions about fitness that may be holding them back.

“The benefits of being a fit teen are plentiful, but it’s important to also know how to help reduce injury risks and stay motivated over the long haul,” explains Coach Sarah Walls, personal trainer and owner of SAPT Strength & Performance Training, Inc., who is also the strength and conditioning coach for WNBA’s Washington Mystics. “Being fit and healthy is more than just exercising, so it’s a good idea to learn more about what you need to do to be healthy all around.”

Here are 5 fitness tips every teen should read:

1. Eat brain food. This is the good stuff, which is the unprocessed, whole foods, which include things like salads, poultry, lean meats, eggs, healthy fats, etc. Unprocessed foods are packed with vitamins and nutrients that will keep you sharp mentally and physically fit, too.

2. Train to be more useful. Going to the gym to work on your “abs” and “beach muscles” is usually done with endless sit-ups and biceps curls, but you can get the same effect by training to be more athletic, faster, and generally more useful in life, which means working to get your entire body stronger. You can work with a personal trainer to put together a routine that meets these needs and goals that are tailored specifically for you.

3. Go into Do Not Disturb mode. A big part of mental fitness is the ability to step away from the phone calls, texts, and Instagram feeds. Your mind will keep you feeling better when you walk away from those things more often. Take some time to go for a walk or spend time playing with your dog, as these kinds of things are good for your body and your mind.

4. Appreciate that nothing happens overnight. When embarking on a fitness routine, it helps to celebrate the small victories that come with the little daily improvements. Yes, you may want to get a big bench press or increase your vertical jump by several inches – both are worthy pursuits, but both also take time and dedication. Learn to love the small changes and watch how they lead to meeting big goals.

5. Beware of the changes. Fitness has changed a lot in 20 years, so be careful whose advice you take. There are plenty of well-intended coaches and parents who dole out advice that is at best antiquated and at worst downright dangerous. Listen to your body, ask questions, and seek out expert advice when you need it!

“The teen years are a great time to work on fitness and for laying the foundation for a healthy body and future,” added Coach Walls. “The more you know about what it takes, the less you are looking for an overnight fix. Getting fit, whether you are a teen or a senior citizen, takes time, patience, and dedication. But it’s worth it!”

Sarah Walls has over 15 years experience in coaching and personal training. Owner of SAPT Strength & Performance Training, Inc, founded in 2007, she offers coaching to develop athletes, adult programs, team training, online coaching, and more. She is also the strength and conditioning coach for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, and has over eight years of experience working as an NCAA D1 strength and conditioning coach and personal trainer. To learn more, visit the site: www.saptstrength.com.

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Parenting

10 Ways to Be a Better Parent Today

Posted on August 17, 2017

If one of your resolutions this year is to be a better parent, here are 10 things that will put you on that path. Following these tips can help lead you to happier, healthier and less stressful parenting.

1. Embrace being a “good enough” parent. It’s the natural curse of being a parent, wanting to be a perfect parent and role model for your children. You want to do the best by your child. The good news is your child doesn’t need a perfect parent to grow and thrive. She just needs a good enough parent. So while striving to be better is a wonderful thing, embrace your shortcomings and use them as opportunities to teach the lessons of imperfection. Believe it or not, your child isn’t perfect either.

2. Spend more one on one time with your child. Step out of the hustle and bustle of today’s world and spend one on one time with your child. You don’t have to plan an elaborate or expensive activity. Take a walk, watch a movie, or go out for pizza. The idea is to spend time together without the normal day to day distractions and focus on connecting with each other. This special time together will stay with your child for a lifetime.

3. Turn off the electronics. When was the last time you spent the afternoon unplugged from your cell phone, tablet, laptop and TV? It’s hard for your child to feel he has your undivided attention when your time together is interrupted with calls from work, texts from friends, or the game. When you unplug and focus fully on your role as a parent, both you and your child will enjoy your time together much more.

4. Get outside and play. What do kids love to do more than play? They love to share their favorite play spaces and games with Mom or Dad. Take your child to his favorite playground for the morning and let him show you how to climb to the top of the tower. Take him on a bike ride for the afternoon and enjoy nature and great company at the same time. Head to the backyard and show her how to shoot a basket or swing for the bleachers. Playing together is the perfect way to stay in shape and have fun.

5. Live by routines. Children do best when they know what comes next. While it’s easier for older kids to successfully handle change and transition, children of every age like the stability and security of routines. By working with your child to establish regular routines, your family will more easily move through the day. Trouble spots like getting ready for school, homework time or bedtime can often be smoothed out by a well thought out routine.

6. See things through your child’s eyes. Adults often get wrapped up in the details of daily life and forget how to enjoy the simple things in life. Slow down and see things the way your child sees them. Marvel with him at the ant farm he discovered in the backyard. Laugh at the silliness of the cat trying to get out of a cardboard box. Take the time to let him share his world with you.

7. Learn a new parenting skill. Good parenting is part instinct and part skill. Invest in learning a new way to do something that currently challenges you. Tap into the ideas of experienced parents and professionals to help you handle things in a more effective way.

8. Stop comparing yourself to other parents. You’ll always find parents that seem to do things better and more easily than you do. These comparisons don’t make you a better parent, they only make you question yourself and stress you out. Of course, that stress and indecision directly affects your child, so remember that you don’t know the behind the scenes facts of other families and accept that you’re doing a good enough job. You and your child will be happier.

9. Accept your child will struggle with some things other kids find easy. Every child is challenged by a behavior or skill that other children find easy. If you can accept and work with that fact rather than fight against it, you’ll be able to help your child through the challenge more effectively.

10. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Consistency is the foundation of effective parenting. When you set clear expectations and boundaries and stick to them, your child knows what he can expect from you. He’s able to rely on your words and actions. That security is the key to his healthy emotional and social development.

Being a parent means you’re always learning. Just when you think you’ve mastered one stage, your child moves into another one. Letting go and enjoying the learning curve will make for a happy parent and child.

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All the Ways the Government, Innovative StartUps and Toy Companies are Elevating STEM Learning

Posted on August 15, 2017

It’s exciting to see more Science, Tech, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs, initiatives, subscription boxes and other inventive and innovative products and services cropping up and becoming widely available for boys and girls from infancy to college age and beyond.

If the United States is to compete globally, it is important that more children maintain an interest and comfortable familiarity with the hard sciences and math and its awesome that it is being incorporated in many ways, and even through something so traditional as Legos!

I mean, there are companies that are franchising LEGO® bricks, K’Nex and code building skills camps, workshops and classes that also provide hands-on, interactive activities for children ages 1-14.

It makes sense that those building toys are used to integrate fun and learning and especially given that building blocks are also essentials of coding. For this reason, Snapology, for example, which offers birthday parties, courses for Scouts that want that Engineering badge, and Parents’ Night out days, can help make play fun and educational. You cannot beat that!

And STEM and building projects are a natural fit.

When my kids and I went to NASA Space Center‘s annual event for kids a little while back, I noticed that the most popular and best- attended exhibit was the room featuring Lego experiments for the kids to partake in.

The government too recognizes the importance of increasing opportunities for children to get into STEM and therefore has a host of resources and initiatives for schools, educators and colleges and universities to explore on a Department of Education website.

Innovators are maximizing on the push for STEM too. Every other week, I am contacted by a subscription box or toy company promising to develop your 2-year old into the next Mark Zuckerberg. No really! My 15-year old is testing out a box for Creation Crate and has a couple of boxes on the way.

The kind folks at @CreationCrate sent me one of its subscription boxes that teaches kids how to Code & actually build electronic devices, robots and more from scratch and naturally, I had to let eldest (15yo) who wants to build his own computer someday give it a try. In less than 5 minutes, he opened the box, assembled the pieces & headed online to the website to finish the build out of his lamp, this month’s box. Very neat! Can’t wait to see the final product. *Product supplied complimentary for review. click link in bio to purchase and use code: JJBlog for 10% off your first crate.
A post shared by JJ Ghatt (@jjghatt) on Jul 26, 2017 at 9:44am PDT

And girls are not being left out either!

From Goldie Blox Odyssey-of-the-Mind building blocks for girls to Amazon.com’s entire STEM for Girls collection of toys, game and kids products manufacturers and innovators are realizing the for too long girls have been left out of the creative and building toy space.

It’s wonderful how parents are being pro-active by creating opportunities for their children to explore STEM projects, and are not waiting for school curricula to be built around the field.

I really love the concept of Snapology, especially the birthday parties they have for kids who love LEGOS. We are always looking for different things to do with winter babies who have to have indoor parties each year, and if you have a franchise near by, you have one more option to the usual trampoline and bouncy house gyms and laser tag parties. Fun!

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The Shaming Trend Has Gone So Far We’re Shaming the Shamers

Posted on August 14, 2017

Once upon a time, you could joke with a friend about packing on a few pounds or point out that their kid is about to stroll into traffic and no one would take offense or accuse you of “fat shaming” or “mommy shaming” them.

In our online digital world we live in, we can no longer point out anything we disagree with or find critical of others without being accused of being a “shamer.”

I am hopeful that at some point, this obsession with shaming the shamers simmer down.

When you think of it, to shame a shamer makes you a shamer too, no?

Our coddled, participation-prize culture will not let anyone upset the feelings or sensitivities of their vulnerable friends even on mundane things.

This is true even if said friend opened up the door to criticism by posting private moments on social media. I mean even legit questionability about their judgments are OFF. THE.TABLE.

But…shhsss! What about?…Nope sssshut it!

Every body who lets slip through their typing fingers some level of judgment about something she or he sees scroll through their social media feed is a Cyber Bully.

So long as we’re creating new categories of shaming, I’ve come up with a list of things that people shame us about on social media that can be added.

Grammar Police Shamed- When you post a long soliloquy on your position of a pop culture topic or policy and the first person to comment under your post only do so to point out that you used the word “your” or “their” wrong.

Selfie Shamed- When you bump into someone you haven’t seen in a while at a party and she rolls her eyes at you when you ask to take an Usie ‘for the Gram.’

Facebook Shamed– When you see someone you are FB friends with but who doesn’t post often and they tell you “you’re always on Facebook!” Like, shut up. How would you know I’m always on there unless you are too?

Cheapskate Shamed- When you get someone a nice gift at one of those discount stores like Ross, TJ Maxx or Marshalls and you have to spend a bunch of time removing the discount price sticker they practically glued on the worst possible spot on the item, like the glass of the picture frame, and you feel bad because you know had you spent more money and gotten them something from Things Remembered or Macy’s, you wouldn’t have had to do all that scraping and soaking off the price glue.

Being a Petty Jealous Friend Shamed — When you get called out for tagging a busted looking photo of a friend who normally looks snatched In all her Instagram pics because her social media game is on point like that but she looks like the rest of us in non-staged and hyper filtered photos and you didnt’ think anyone would make YOU the enemy because you thought we all agreed she needed to be exposed.

Smart phone addicted shamed — When your date takes a photo of you on your phone and posts it on Twitter or Snapchat and everybody comments or retweets it and eventually some journalist embeds the photo in their article about the “10 Rude Things You Can Do On A Date” and then your mother sees it and calls to tell you this is why you’ll never be married.

There are so many ways people are made to feel bad about their choices on line. Add Yours.

This post was written in fun but I wholly expect someone to shame me for it.

Originally posted on Medium

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Parenting

What to Consider Before You Let Your Child Ride the School Bus

Posted on August 11, 2017

The first day of school is a momentous occasion for both parents and their children, but so is the first time that your child rides the school bus alone. For some parents, necessity forces them to put their kids on the bus, as their own professional schedules won’t allow for drop-offs and pick-ups. In other cases, belief that riding the bus builds character or exposes kids to manageable difficulty to give them strength is the motivating factor behind using the school bus as primary transportation. Whatever your reasons, there are a few things you should know before your little one climbs those steps for the first time.

Basic School Bus Safety

In order to teach your child the basic rules of school bus safety, you’ll need to know them yourself. Your child should never run to or from the bus, even if he’s late. He should always stand back from the curb and wait for the bus driver’s signal before crossing the street, and should be at least ten feet in front of the bus for peak driver visibility. While he’s on the bus, your child should never shout, get out of his seat or roughhouse with other kids. If you’re not there to put him on the bus and escort him back at the end of the day, your child will need to know these things in order to handle himself safely.

Expected Times of Arrival

Even if you’re not going to be there to greet the bus at the end of the day or put your little one on it, you should still know the expected time of arrival each way. Arranging a system of notification, especially at the end of the day, will let you know that your older child has reached his stop safely. If you don’t know what time the bus arrives at the stop, you won’t know what time to expect that message.

Adults on the Bus

Some school districts or individual buses have an adult aide, in addition to the bus driver, who works as a monitor, while others rely solely on the attention of the driver. If your child’s bus will not have a monitor, you’ll need to understand that he may be exposed to bullying or other behavior that goes unpunished, as the driver’s attention is focused on the road, rather than the conduct of her young riders.

Rules of Conduct

While there are some basic rules of common sense conduct that hold true on every bus, there may be more specific ones on a particular bus or within your school district that you’re not aware of. You can’t pass those rules along and explain them to your child if you don’t know what they are, so make a point of procuring a copy of the conduct rules from your child’s teacher or school administrators before his first solo ride.

How Behavioral Problems are Handled

Kids on the school bus may not be monitored as heavily as they are in class, which can lead to behavioral problems you’d never consider under other circumstances. Whether your child is the victim or the perpetrator of these infractions, they’re so likely to happen that you’ll need to have a basic grasp of how your school district and bus driver will handle potential behavioral problems.

Age Span of Student Riders

In some districts, it’s feasible to keep younger children separated from the older, more rambunctious bus riders. Smaller areas may not have enough students to warrant more than one bus on a single route, however, and may lump kids of all ages together. This can make for some particularly scary moments for very young children, who can be the target of older bullies. Find out what the average age span is of the riders on your child’s bus, so that you can be prepared for any problems or can make alternate arrangements if you feel uncomfortable with the idea of him being surrounded by junior high students.

Your Child’s Ability to Handle Riding the Bus Alone

Some kids are more mature than others of their age, while some fall a bit behind on the scale of emotional maturity. Before you put your child on the school bus to essentially fend for himself, you need to know where he falls on that scale and how capable he is of handling the potential stressors of riding a school bus. In the end, you’re the only person who will know exactly how prepared your child is, and how well he’s likely to deal with the situation.

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Parenting