You found the perfect house, just a short distance from your child’s school district. But the school doesn’t offer school buses, or you live just outside the district. The house is inviting, and the school system has a lot to offer, so you think that driving your child to school every day won’t be such a bad thing. Not only will you get a few extra minutes each morning with your child in the car, but the drive is less than 20 minutes. How bad can that be, right? A great house, plus a great school district, seems like a small price to pay for the inconvenience of chauffeuring the kids.
The True Cost of Driving Your Kids to School
At first, driving your kids to school may seem like a small sacrifice for a great gain. In 1969, only about 15% of all school-aged children were driven to school. The vast majority, no matter the weather—wind, rain, or snow—fastened up their shoes and hiked the distance to their neighborhood schools. Many even biked. The first school buses were actually horse-drawn carriages introduced in 1827. These were designed to take children who lived far from school to the local schoolhouse.
Today, nearly 500,000 school buses transport close to 30 million children to school daily. Some of these kids travel less than a mile to school, while others, who live further away, may spend up to 30 minutes (or more) on a school bus. The rise in school bus use has increased each year for the past five decades due to safety concerns that parents have about their children walking to school unattended. Despite the widespread use of school buses, it is estimated that three-quarters of all children are still driven to school daily by parents or caretakers for various reasons. Some parents live outside the school bus route, others send their kids to private schools without bus systems, and some parents don’t want their child to leave the house an hour and a half early just to catch the bus.
The problem is that what seems like a simple fix to a geographical issue can actually become a long-term commitment with many negative side effects.
For one thing, driving your child to school, waiting in drop-off lines, picking them up from school, and waiting in afternoon pickup lines takes up a lot of time. If your child is involved in after-school or extracurricular activities, there’s even more driving involved, leading to a significant increase in gas expenditures and a huge sacrifice of your time every day. Remember, driving your child to school every day means, at the very least, you’ll be required to make the trip twice a day. This can easily add up to anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours in the car just to get the kids to and from school.
Many parents who drive their kids to school have several children with differing dismissal times. If your pre-K student gets out at 1:30 and your 5th grader gets out at 3:15, you have nearly two hours of idle time to waste. After all, it’s not worth the 20-mile trek back home only to turn right around and do it again, is it?
For working parents, driving your child to school can lead to a lot of stress and worry. Not only do you have to arrange your schedule to leave on time, but you also need to keep an eye on weather conditions, traffic delays, and other time traps that could make your child late or make it impossible for you to be on time in the afternoon. Keep in mind that many school districts charge parents fees if they’re late picking up their children and report tardy arrivals to the Department of Family and Children Services.
Obviously, every family situation is different. Still, before you decide that driving your kids to school every day is ‘no big deal,’ it’s important to consider both the time and financial expenses this will have on your life. You also need to account for a backup plan in case your vehicle breaks down or life throws you an unpredictable curveball. Plus, that nice, calm, and relaxing ride to school every morning, which you envisioned as quality time with your children, can quickly turn into a nightmare. The kids arguing in the backseat, rushing around in the mornings to get them out on time, and starting your mornings off as an offbeat chauffeur for ungrateful children isn’t as cheerful as it may first seem. You may also begin to resent just how much time you spend every day cruising around town to pick up and drop off kids, especially when you have a multitude of other productive things you could be doing.
There are trade-offs with everything in life. If you’re lucky enough to have a bus system, count your blessings. Before you jump into the role of full-time chauffeur, think long and hard about the commitment you’re making. This is especially important if you’re relocating to a school system that doesn’t have a bus system to rely on. As your children get older, you’ll still need to remain available during school hours, which can significantly hinder your future plans and employability—not to mention your sanity!
