Monday, September 13, 2010

afternoon from hell and back again

Sophie's instructions today were to take the bus (as usual). I would pick her up at her bus stop and take her over to her tap dance class. At 2:25pm I drove down to the daycare bus stop. The daycare kids were getting off the bus (along with the other elementary school kids). Her two teachers were there to meet the kids. Heather, the main teacher looked at me, and said, "Sophie was not on the bus." They double checked the bus. No Sophie. I scrambled up to the school. I raced into her classroom and asked her teacher, "where is Sophie?" Her teacher said that she had missed the bus, but the teacher could not leave the classroom, so she instructed Sophie to speak to the playground monitor and she would take her to the office. I raced into the office and there was Sophie sitting in a chair with another little girl (who was waiting for her brother who forgot to walk home with her). Her eyes were red from crying. I gave her a squeeze that probably bruised her ribs. The school had tried to phone me at work but I had already left to pick her up. I scooped her up and we drove down to tap. By this time the class had started (one of Sophie's pet peeves is arriving late to a class). I got her dressed quickly and we walked into the class. By this point, she didn't want to have anything to do with the class and just wanted to go back to daycare. We persevered and in a few minutes and much "encouragement" later, she settled down.

I called the school and spoke to the vice principal about her missing the bus. I wanted to know how it is possible for a child who has a classroom right next to the bus stop can possibly miss the bus (Sophie is not a dawdler). The vice principal said that Sophie was the 3rd child in the last two days who has missed the bus due to a turnaround that is far too quick. So, the school is going to have a meeting and either get the bus schedule changed or else work out some accommodation in the classrooms so kids that are taking the bus can have a little extra time to get their backpacks organized, coats on, etc.

It was good to get home and settle in tonight. Not a nice start to the week, but hopeful experiences like this are building up some resiliency in Sophie for the future and other things she encounters with scheduling snafus.

1 comment:

Katy said...

Poor thing (you and Sophie).
Scary and frustrating.
Hopefully it gets "turned around" quickly. :)