Rocking the Public Transportation System

One of the things I aim for in my quest to do my job as a parent, is that my children be independent and self-sufficient. One of  the all-important life skills is being able to get from Point A to Point B.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewblack/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

My oldest daughter, who is now 23, was riding the public buses since she was a young teen. That’s something I did as a young teen, too, and it really instills a sense of freedom and responsibility — “I can go anywhere in the city I need or want to go, as long as I research the route and have the fare, and make it to the stop on time.”

Over the years, when my daughter’s friends had car trouble or worried about finding parking somewhere, my daughter would suggest they take a bus, and they would balk, “I don’t know how!” Amusingly enough, some of those same friends thought it was odd that my daughter hadn’t learned to drive yet.  She always had a wonderful sense of pride that she could “rock the public transportation system” (her words).

And now my younger daughter, who is turning 16 in June, is following in her big sister’s footsteps. She wanted to see Alice in Wonderland (a movie I have absolutely no interest in seeing; I am not a fan of that book), and so yesterday, she looked up her bus schedules online. Today, she asked me break a $5 bill for her and headed off. I just got text from her that she’s there and seated in the movie theater, ready for the show.

Even through a text, I can feel her sense of pride and accomplishment. Like her big sister and her mother before her, she’s rocking the public transportation system.