Food Choices and Behavior Issues in Children

Hello Blogworld!

I have been quite busy with life as of late, and have not had much of a chance to sit down and formulate a decent blog post in a while. With being back at college for a career change, my priorities lately have simply been to keep up with the ever changing schedule. I finished second semester of college strong with another 4.0 GPA, all A's (Yes, I am a high achiever - though occasionally I do have to employ the use of spell check.) Summer semester started a few weeks ago and I am going through a writing course that is required for me to complete my major. I'm enjoying the class so far and we have had some very interesting discussions which incidentally has led to this blog post. The professor asked us to complete a writing prompt on a subject of our choice, to which I chose "Food Choices for Children and How It Affects Their Behavior."

Any nutritionist will tell you that good food choices are essential to maintaining a healthy body. Children need good nutrition. Often, the only balanced nutrition they receive is through the school lunch program. Nutritionists work directly with the schools in order to balance the menu so that the students are getting the optimal nutrients for their age group. Even the White House is getting involved when it comes to providing adequate nutrition education to children. Where this process breaks down is when the children are at home. Many low income families receive food stamps, welfare, or other types of government assistance in order to keep a roof over their heads. These programs provide just enough for families to squeak by, but their food choices are limited to what they can afford.

Coming on the summer season, a lot of schools will begin offering summer nutrition programs for children under 18 years of age. They can come to the school and eat breakfast and lunch for free, or the food is delivered to sites that are set up for distribution. For many parents, this program alleviates some of the stress that is placed on them to provide for their children while still allowing the children to receive the nutrition they need.

How do food choices become a behavior issue? Well many of the foods that have low nutritional value like cereals, pasta, cookies, chips, and canned goods are usually lower in price than healthier choices like meats, vegetables, and fruits. Due to the tighter budget from being on assistance, parents will often stock up on the more inexpensive items listed above rather than ones that can provide adequate nutrition. It doesn't help that a lot of the poor nutritional foods tend to market to children by way of cartoon characters, added sugar, and the promise of a toy "prize". A fair amount of children are on medication to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but no one stops to consider what these children are eating on a regular basis that may contribute to their hyperactivity. Sugar is not always bad, but should be consumed in moderation. When children consume too much of something, they will experience a rush, which can promote poor behavior choices.

Every day on the bus, I see children climb the steps with all sorts of junk in their hands such as sodas, candy, chips, sweetened snack cakes, or cinnamon buns. It's no wonder that later in the day or further on in the ride on the bus, these children become more active and can act out inappropriately. Sugar can have affect the body in many different ways. The behavior is also linked to certain food dyes which is found in many foods. Food will have hidden sources of sugar too, which again leads to behavior displays.

What can we do? Educate! Educate! Educate!

Offering free classes for parents on a budget will help these parents make better food choices when shopping, and hopefully in turn will help them teach their children positive nutrition. Medication can only go so far in helping children. Proper nutrition is key.

An Apple A Day,

The Bus Driver

Answering Questions - Assigned Seat Issue.

AJ wrote:

Hi well I'm ticked off right now because I'm a 13 year old who got switched seats because this little girl's parent said a girl my age said shut up to her. Their is not even a 13 year old girl on the bus! So now I have to sit next to a second grade boy who will not shut up and keeps punching me. In my old seat I sat next to my good friend kayden who is my age. So I would love to know why bus drivers do this stuff aimed at teens

AJ -

Sometimes bus drivers have to swap some seats around just to change things up, or accommodate a situation that you are unaware of. There may be a bullying situation on the bus that we are trying to put a stop to, or prevent, by having a few kids move around.

Today, I had to move a few children around because they would not keep their hands to themselves. I let both children off with a warning not to do it again.

You mentioned that the new boy you are sitting with hits you. Let the bus driver know this and ask for a change of seat. If you are polite and ask respectfully and the bus driver can accommodate you, you will be able to move seats. Sometimes we do have to be strict though and follow through with current assigned seats. If the second grade boy does not stop hitting you, AND the bus driver does not do anything about it (either moving the boy or you to a separate seat) then I would go to your parents and ask them for help in the situation.

We don't target teens specifically, and I'm sorry you feel targeted. Ask your bus driver what you can do to be able to go back to where you were sitting before. The bus driver may be looking for good behavior and just making sure that the language on the bus is not offensive.

Hope this helps AJ!

The Bus Driver

Discipline issues?

Something really irked me this morning. A parent cussed out their child causing their child to be upset during the week where there are these BIG IMPORTANT STATE TESTS.

Parents - YOU are the role model for your child. If your child cusses, they've probably heard it from YOU. Cussing at your child for misbehavior is NOT solving the problem, but rather upsetting your child in ways you don't even know. I don't care if your child is in pre-k or is almost 18, you DO NOT cuss out your child!!!!

I often talk about ways to get children to behave, but what if the parent is the one that is out of control? Stories pepper the news with titles like "Parent arrested for threatening a bus driver" or "Mother slapped a child that was not hers." Whatever happened to personal responsibility? The blame shifts from person to person, but no one ever takes responsibility. As a parent, you are in control of the situation at hand and you are often the one who can be the biggest advocate for your child or cause the most harm to your child.

Your child looks up to you!!!! REMEMBER THAT!!!!

I am not saying that children never misbehave or do not deserve to be disciplined, but think about HOW you are treating your child when it comes to discipline. Is it fair and unbiased? Is the discipline going to harm your child more than help them? I'm not saying you need to pussyfoot around the issues either. Strong positive discipline works better than negative discipline and can take a child further in life. Having a child accept responsibility for their actions in a positive manner rather than making them afraid of the consequences for their behavior will bring about responsible adults instead of adults who deny everything because they don't want to face the reality.

EMF's "Children" really brings this home.

Be a Role Model!

The Bus Driver

I swear....

I don't recall blogging about this, but a funny thought recently occurred to me. I blog all about how the kids swear, or misbehave, but what happens if it is the DRIVER that cusses?

Well, I admit... I have cussed on the bus. Truth be told, I am human, and my reaction to a situation was one that was fairly normal given the situation at hand. I have uttered a few choice swear words (usually under my breath and inaudible to passengers) when I've had a close call while driving, or witness something that is completely insane, like someone deciding to nearly sideswipe me while trying their best to get around me in heavy oncoming traffic, but this particular situation was unique.

I cussed loud enough for ALL the kids to hear, moreover, I actually SHOUTED this cuss word. I didn't get fired, though I'm sure I caused my boss some gray hairs afterwards given that the bus that I slipped up on, is known for doing everything under the sun to get bus drivers fired. This particular bus has a rough bunch of children whose parents NEVER take any responsibility for, and when it comes to their children they actively DENY any involvement of said children in questionable activities. Let alone the child in question is WEARING the same thing that the video tape shows!!!! But that's beside the point!

Situation:

Driving down the road on the way to the single stop on this route (a low income apartment complex).

Kid - (stands up and yells at the top of his lungs)... SH*T!!!

Me - (reacting to his obscenity)... WHOA!! I had better NOT hear those words come out of your mouth again or I will take your A$$ - BUTT! back to school.

Whole bus - ooooooooooooohhhhhhhh the bus driver SWORE!!!!!

Me - (still looking at the kid in my rearview) - You got a PASS this time boy!

Even though the kid swore first, and my first reaction was to yell at him for it, in turn, uttering my own swear, I can still get in trouble for it. As luck would have it, I did tell my boss, but he was understanding, and I'm sure fielded a lot of phone calls from parents whose kids went home and said "The bus driver swore at us today"... let alone what those kids actually SAY when they get on the bus. Those kids have a more colorful vocabulary than my own!!!

Cuss Free,

The Bus Driver

Burn-out

I've been in a blogging mood lately which has been largely refreshing given the fact that I have not blogged a bunch in a good long while. I got to thinking, why had my desire to blog disappeared? Then it struck me. I was burnt out. Not from blogging itself, but my jobs were wreaking havoc on my nervous system that I basically shut down anything that I had been doing as a past time. I didn't even leave my little apartment except for work.

I was working 7 days a week, often up to 60 hours a week depending on whether I had field trips. By the time I got home, my energy was just so zapped, I had absolutely no desire to do anything else. The reality was, Transit was sucking the life out of me. I worked there for 4 and a half years, the cards stacked against me from day 1, which became apparent as the years wore on, but slowly and surely my resistance wore down. Things became a chore. I hated going to work at Transit because I knew there would be some problem or another with the way things were going or how I was performing the job. When I started school in the Fall of 2012 - my time at Transit was further limited due to my course schedule, which caused even more hardships and made my supervisor over there "C" try even harder to do what she could to get me to quit. Well she won. I quit. I don't regret it for a minute. I am finally pulling myself out of the blog "funk" I was in and I am rediscovering my love of blogging, even on days like today.

This morning went something like an Abbott and Costello sketch:

After my normal good morning call to the bus shop to ascertain that I am supposed to be driving bus 69, I drive to the shop to discover that 69 is missing from the parking lot. I circle the parking lot a couple times, and look at a couple of spare buses to see if maybe someone had placed numbers on the side. Having found none, I called the bus shop and the exchange went something like this....

Bus Shop (BS) - Bus shop how can I help you?

Me - Hi, Mr. Mechanic, its The Bus Driver, what bus did you want me to drive on 69's route? Old 14?

BS - No, bus 69

Me - Its not here

BS - Yes it is

Me - No it's not

BS - YES it is, I saw it this morning

Me - Its not here....

BS - Is bus 44 on the yard?

Me - No bus 44 left already... so do you want me to use old 14?

BS - Use bus 69

Me - ITS NOT HERE... I circled the parking lot three times looking for it!

BS - Oh um, BS to 69....... <---long pause.... bus 69 go ahead BS.....

Apparently the regular driver had come and gotten her bus and was already on-route. I went and drove a different bus instead, and managed to get cussed out by middle school and elementary kids - one as young as 5 years old!!! It will be so much fun confronting the parent tomorrow morning about their children's potty mouth.


Whose On First?

The Bus Driver

Bus Accident

Accident.

The word strikes fear into everyone who hears it. Who is it? What happened? Is everyone okay? The fear seems to double when there is a school bus involved. Bus accidents are scary things, though sometimes the accident can be something as simple as the bus driver hitting a stop sign, getting stuck in the mud, or getting the bus hung up on a fire hydrant (true story!). The accident could be as severe as a roll over or head on collision. These accidents can be caused by the bus drivers, other motorists, and that random garbage can that attacks the bus (they're vicious!!).

The question then becomes, "What to do in the case of an emergency involving a school bus?"

1. Don't panic. - This applies to school bus drivers as well as parents. Assess the situation. Find out what happened and then formulate a plan. If the bus is simply stuck in the mud, and there are no injuries, simply come and pick up your child from the bus or wait for the bus to get pulled out of the mud and resume regular route. The bus driver is trained to do everything in his/her power to ensure the safety of your child, even in the most extreme circumstances.

2. Injuries? If there are injuries, we call the appropriate medical personnel to come and assess your child and let them take the appropriate action necessary to ensure the safety of your child. We already do this for children that have asthma attacks, seizures, and other medical conditions on the bus that may require attention, though those are categorized as medical emergencies.

3. Supply information. Before your child starts riding the bus, we ask that you fill out an information form. This includes your child's name, address, parent's names, phone number, grade level, school, medical conditions, and who to contact in the case of an emergency. Please ensure that all bus drivers that transport your child have this information and that you keep it updated. There is nothing worse than trying to call you to notify you about a problem your child is having and finding out the phone number has been disconnected, or worse, that the school does not have updated information for your child. *** For younger children, writing in a sharpie permanent marker on the inside of their school bag with their name, and phone number, is helpful in helping me identify your child.***

4. Teach your child the basics. One of the best things for a child to know is the basics of name, phone number, parent name, and address. I once had a child who accidentally got on my bus and then realized that she should have boarded a completely different bus. She was in kindergarten and she came up to me and said, "My name is X, My moms name is X, I live at XXXXXXX, my phone number is 555-1234, can you call my mom and tell her where I am?" I contacted the bus shop, they contacted the mother (who as it turned out is also a bus driver) and the situation was resolved.

5. Severity - If the accident is more severe, such as a head on collision or the bus got rear-ended, find out if your child is going to the hospital, and then meet your child at the hospital or come pick your child up at either the accident site or a central location such as a school. Be aware that emotions will be running high as your child is understandably scared. In most cases where the accident was not severe enough to warrant all children going to the hospital, the bus shop will send a spare bus to pick up the children who are fine and just shaken up to either bring back home, or on to school, depending on the time of day. You, as a parent, do have the right to decide whether your child will just get on the other bus, or if you will come pick him/her up at the scene. Often times, we try to remove the children from the scene as fast as possible (once released by medical personnel) as we do not want to frighten them any more than they already are. Additionally for something such as the bus getting stuck in the mud, or a minor fender bender where there were no injuries at all, we will notify you as soon as possible, but rest assured your child will be taken care of and transported to the appropriate place.


Accident free!

The Bus Driver

Things your Bus Driver wants you to know but won't tell you part 2

A while back I posted a blog entitled Things your Bus Driver wants you to know, but won't tell you and decided it was time to post a second part to this.

1. Patience - Please be patient with us, we may get held up by traffic, trains, other children acting out, other parents who stop us to talk at the stop, etc. It happens, just be patient with us, we will eventually get your child home one way or another.

2. Calling the bus shop the nanosecond your child does not walk through the door is not okay. This irritates the secretaries who are dealing with fights, people running our stop signs, and bus drivers having issues. Adding to their stress by being impolite, or cussing at them because the bus is a few minutes behind will NOT solve the issue. Instead, I suggest watching out your window. If the bus passes by and your child does NOT get off from the bus, then please do call us.

3. Your child may have fallen asleep. Hard to believe, but it happens all the time, especially to your younger children who have not quite mastered the art of staying awake on a moving vehicle. If we pass by your stop because your child is asleep, the child is NOT where I can actively see him/her in my rear view mirror. It happens, we simply circle the block if possible, or return to the stop at the end of the route.

4. If your child falls asleep and misses his/her stop, it is not fair to the other children to make them wait for your child. Accept that once your child has been found and determined to be asleep, you can do one of two things. A. Get your butt out of the house, in your own vehicle, and come GET your child at another stop. OR B. Wait until the bus driver has time to bring your child back. Yes, this means your child will have to ride the bus until the end of the route. If your child is lucky to be on a bus that simply circles the block, coming back by your house, we will stop then.

5. Yelling at us because your child fell asleep is NOT our problem. Put your child to bed. If he/she was in bed and asleep by 7-8 pm instead of out at Wal-Mart at 11 pm when you decide you just HAVE to go shopping, he/she would NOT have fallen asleep on my bus.

6. If you are worried about your child not getting off the bus, STAND AT THE STOP AND WAIT FOR YOUR CHILD!!!! Get a lawn chair and wait. If a driver sees you waiting, he/she is more likely to stop and you will not miss your child getting off the bus. This is especially helpful for "sleeper" children.


To be Continued...

The Bus Driver