have we been consumed by laziness?

On my normally quick drive home from uni on Thursday, I ended up behind several school buses. I groaned, knowing that this drive was suddenly about to become longer. However, after all the times I had been stopped behind school buses, I never really seemed to take notice of the frequency of which they stopped. On one stretch of a short road, I noticed one bus stop about 3 times in 5 minutes. I don't know if I'm crazy, but this seems absurd to me. For the majority of the stops, parents were greeting their children. And even with high school aged kids that were piling off buses, the frequency stayed the same. Is it really that difficult for kids to spend an extra minute or two walking to their respective houses?

I haven't taken a school bus for a good ten years now, but I can remember groups of kids getting off at the same spot and having to walk about an equal amount to get home, it at least gave us a bit of fresh air and some "exercise" before heading into our houses to get a sugary snack and watch the afternoon selections on TV, but now it feels like so much time is spent dropping kids off at their specific houses, and of course, adds to the insane traffic problem that has hit Long Island with the growth in population over the years. Maybe this has just been a gradual change over the years, or maybe it's just a specific school district - but I don't understand this trend!

Something that has remained constant over the years, though, is the warmth you see in the hug between child and parent as they step off the bus. At almost every stop, I saw the children run into the arms of their parents, who shared an equally happy and loving expression on their faces as their greeted their children after the school day. I can remember after a painfully dull, tedious day at elementary school, feeling like I was finally cared about and happy when I saw my parents waiting for me as I returned home. I just hope these parents are taking their kids for a walk after their long bus rides.