The picture above is not actually my daughter, I am sure you knew that, but I just wanted to make sure. 🙂 It is from the Wizard of Oz and is the evil witch as she peddles to who knows where, and little Dorothy just wanted to be home.
School started last week for my kids, it was a really happy time for them as they are really excited to be biking to school this year. The thing is they didn’t really have a choice, see the school district is cutting back and if you live within a certain distance you have no bus service this year. I am like the wicked witch above and refuse to sit for an hour in car line so my kids get all hot and sweaty biking to and from school. I am sure it is building character and keeping them fit at the same time.
We practiced before school started to make sure the kids were confident getting to school. They ride in a large mass of kids (see above about no school bus ) so it is really just following the kid in front of you. Plus there are about 1,001 Moms and Dads riding also and a few crossing guards.
My oldest daughter rides with a group a street over. Last week the ring leader stayed home sick and so the group disbanded and headed off on their own. My daughter came home and asked what she should do. I asked if she felt confident going alone and she did. I told her to come back if she wasn’t sure and I would go with her. Her ride is fairly long and she took off.
After school I asked her when she got home all sweaty and red faced how school went. She told me about her adventure to school. Thinking she had gone too far and missed the school she turned around and started back only to get lost. Frustrated and shy she ended up sitting on the bike trail crying. This part breaks my heart and makes me cry also! In a few minutes a woman came jogging by and stopped to asked if my daughter needed help. She told her she was lost and couldn’t find her school. This woman told her to follow her, she turned around, and jogged with my daughter on the bike all the way to her school’s front door.
Thank goodness for Moms and women in general. My daughter would have never talked to a man (upon orders from her Mother and Father) and that lady could have pointed her in the right direction, but she took the time to make sure that she made it, possibly making herself late. I know that I would have done that same thing, but I really appreciate it when other Moms do things to help my children out. My daughter didn’t ask the lady’s name, so I can’t thank her, but I really want her to know how much I appreciate her and what she did!
Part comedian, part Dad, part athlete. He will boss around your children while they play ball.
Just as angelic as she looks, this girl could easily raise a Village by herself, and all the children would grow up to be President.
Self proclaimed, she would be a webkinz dog. Because, "they're cute, and puppies are too. And they're sweet and they always get along with other puppies."
This mini-Martha Stewart can handle ANY craft you send her way. She isn't all bows and rainbows, she's got karate kid moves!
Not "Pick-Me-Up" like caffeine, she wants you to pick her up! AND NOW!
Anything that can be destroyed WILL be destroyed!
Practically Perfect in Every Way for now! Nicknamed "The Panda" she is rolly polly and lives by the motto, "the little one, is KING!"
The resident Labradoodle, Miller got his name because Mom won and got to name the baby! Need something chewed up? He'll take care of it. Especially if it's expensive..
What a sweet story. I am so glad your daughter made it to school. Its so nice to hear about people doing good for others. Especially since it seems to be so rare anymore.
Fabulous! I’m glad to know there are still lots of kind, good hearted folks out there:)
You know, I thought I heard you lived in The Woodlands. I worked for a company that sold school pictures to the schools out there….I got lost every time!! I think the person who designed those streets had to been a maze fan.
Actually, the guy who designed them wanted everything to be hidden by trees so you wouldn’t feel likeyou were in a city-it’d be more like a forest. He also designed the curvy streets so people couldn’t speed on them without risking wrecking their car… as possibly a deterant? If you don’t grow up here it’s confusing.
…And sadly now they are cutting down the trees left and right..and the curvy roads are no longer useful in cutting down on accidents. i am shocked by how accidents have increased in The Woodlands recently and involved deaths due to high rates of speed.
That made ME cry!!
Oh this made me cry!!!
Aren’t people amazing. We also have the don’t talk to strangers policy, however there is one thing I always told my kids which was based on an experience I had when my first child was a baby. I was in Walmart and a little girl came up lost. She said she was not allowed to talk to strangers but she was lost and since I had a baby she knew I was a mommy and could help her out. WOW! I have told my kids that if ever lost to seek out a store clerk first, and then if not look for a mom with kids. I don’t know of any mother who wouldn’t help a child in need. Yours is an amazing story and it shows there is still goodness in the hearts of some people! P.S. Sorry about the new bus situation…..it is causing problems ALL in so many ways other then just school!
THat made me cry!
That is what you read now, that parents should tell their children if they are lost or scared to find a ‘ woman with kids’, since most likely they are a mom and will help out a young child and not try to run off with them.
what a heart warming story and a tear jerker!! My kids were affected by the same new bus systems in CISD as well it really stinks
What a sweet lady, I cried also!
Tiffany this reminded me of my teaching days in second grade. I always taught my students that if they got lost to go back where they started.One of my kids did just that. She found her way home safely. I got a big smile reading your story.
I too live in The Woodlands and have kiddos who bike the trails. Thank goodness for angels (Moms) among us!
if you have any of those 1 mile or 5 mile walkie talkies send them with the kids.
if anything would come up they have a way to talk to you ( forgotten lunches, bike mishaps,…). i used them with mine before they were old enough for a cell phone. just make sure they turn them off when they get to school.
Not sure if you were around Tiffany when I shared that a mom stayed with my son last week when the school bus dropped him off at an undesignated stop. Not only did she wait with him, but when no one showed up, she drove all around the neighborhood looking for a mom waiting for a bus.
I cry just thinking about what she did for us.
Oh wow, Brittany! I am so sorry and glad all at the same time!
God bless that lady. My husband was in an accident a little over a week ago. A lady stayed by our vehicle, called 911 and kept checking on him. She stayed after the ambulance came and filed a report with the police as a witness. You have to have faith that there are good people and that we can be one of the good ones too should someone need us.
Thanks so much for posting this! It was really nice to read.
Yay for the Good Samaritan! Maybe that one won’t end up as fodder on a therapist’s couch.