Tweet
Hello everyone, I am a long-timer on SNK but barging here . . . hope that's okay!
Ds, 10 y/o in 5th grade, started a new school this year. It's our first time at a school outside our neighborhood, so it's the first time that we have to do more than walk 4 blocks. It's a drive of approx 15 minutes depending on traffic. There is a school bus, but with stops it's an hour each way. Given ds's special needs we decided to make the commitment to do it by car.
Long story short, another family has now expressed interest in carpooling. We have never done anything like this; we live in the city so we don't use the car regularly. I need some guidance, please! Here are some of my questions:
1. how do I know that they are safe drivers with a decent car? we've only met them recently, through the school. They seem like perfectly responsible people, and obviously their dd will be in the car too, but I am having a hard time with this . . . . The quickest trip to the school involves a stretch of highway, which terrifies me.
Related question: ds still uses a booster seat (he is short!). Their dd does not. Do I put one in their car? Does it stay there?
2. what happens if their child is sick on a day that they are supposed to drive? Do they drive my kid anyway, and vice versa do I drive theirs when mine is sick?
3. Would it be normal for me to walk ds to their house (just 2 blocks) when they drive, or do people usually pick up the kids at home?
4. They prefer (it's optional) to get to work early, and asked if they can drop their dd at our house early on mornings that we drive. But that is unusual, right -- because then we're babysitting as well as carpooling? Their dd is well-behaved and self-sufficient, but still . . . .
5. We hired a babysitter to pick up three afternoons per week, because dh and I both work full time. (Dh works a shifted schedule 2 days/week and picks up those days.) When we hired her, we said nothing about carpooling because the other family had been planning to use the bus. Would it be strange to impose this on a babysitter, transporting someone else's child when that wasn't part of the job description?
6. They are willing to try to plan a schedule, but they have unpredictable jobs and said that the schedule may change week-to-week. Dh and I both have unpredictable jobs too, and are likely to need flexibility once in a while, but I feel like the commitment should get changed only when absolutely unavoidable, not "Wednesday is better for me this week." How do people usually do it?
Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom! I get pretty stressed out about anything involving driving, esp when ds is a passenger!
Lisa
Ds, 10 y/o in 5th grade, started a new school this year. It's our first time at a school outside our neighborhood, so it's the first time that we have to do more than walk 4 blocks. It's a drive of approx 15 minutes depending on traffic. There is a school bus, but with stops it's an hour each way. Given ds's special needs we decided to make the commitment to do it by car.
Long story short, another family has now expressed interest in carpooling. We have never done anything like this; we live in the city so we don't use the car regularly. I need some guidance, please! Here are some of my questions:
1. how do I know that they are safe drivers with a decent car? we've only met them recently, through the school. They seem like perfectly responsible people, and obviously their dd will be in the car too, but I am having a hard time with this . . . . The quickest trip to the school involves a stretch of highway, which terrifies me.
Related question: ds still uses a booster seat (he is short!). Their dd does not. Do I put one in their car? Does it stay there?
2. what happens if their child is sick on a day that they are supposed to drive? Do they drive my kid anyway, and vice versa do I drive theirs when mine is sick?
3. Would it be normal for me to walk ds to their house (just 2 blocks) when they drive, or do people usually pick up the kids at home?
4. They prefer (it's optional) to get to work early, and asked if they can drop their dd at our house early on mornings that we drive. But that is unusual, right -- because then we're babysitting as well as carpooling? Their dd is well-behaved and self-sufficient, but still . . . .
5. We hired a babysitter to pick up three afternoons per week, because dh and I both work full time. (Dh works a shifted schedule 2 days/week and picks up those days.) When we hired her, we said nothing about carpooling because the other family had been planning to use the bus. Would it be strange to impose this on a babysitter, transporting someone else's child when that wasn't part of the job description?
6. They are willing to try to plan a schedule, but they have unpredictable jobs and said that the schedule may change week-to-week. Dh and I both have unpredictable jobs too, and are likely to need flexibility once in a while, but I feel like the commitment should get changed only when absolutely unavoidable, not "Wednesday is better for me this week." How do people usually do it?
Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom! I get pretty stressed out about anything involving driving, esp when ds is a passenger!
Lisa
Comment