How do you teach and protect a child – while giving him room to grow and become his own person? Parents and educators alike wrestle with this question every day. Kids are individuals, but they are not self-sufficient. From the time they take their first steps to the time they leave home, they relish each new benchmark on their path to independence.

Riding the bus to school is one such milestone in a child’s life. Little kids eagerly await the time when they are “big” enough to take the bus. Not only are many children fascinated by brightly colored, industrial-sized vehicles – trucks, tractors and fire engines – but riding the bus is also appealing because it’s something a young kid can do without mom or dad.

Then, bigger kids welcome the days when they are old enough to get to school without mom or dad – or a bus driver. In the years in between, relying on the school bus can seem like a routine, sometimes an invisibly predictable occurrence, when in truth, it’s the result of a delicate balancing act.

How do you teach and protect a child – while giving him room to grow and become his own person? Parents and educators alike wrestle with this question every day. Kids are individuals, but they are not self-sufficient. From the time they take their first steps to the time they leave home, they relish each new benchmark on their path to independence.

Riding the bus to school is one such milestone in a child’s life. Little kids eagerly await the time when they are “big” enough to take the bus. Not only are many children fascinated by brightly colored, industrial-sized vehicles – trucks, tractors and fire engines – but riding the bus is also appealing because it’s something a young kid can do without mom or dad.

Then, bigger kids welcome the days when they are old enough to get to school without mom or dad – or a bus driver. In the years in between, relying on the school bus can seem like a routine, sometimes an invisibly predictable occurrence, when in truth, it’s the result of a delicate balancing act.