it's raining

...it's pouring.
It's not really pouring, I just have a hard time saying "it's raining" without sing-songing the "it's pooouuuring" afterwards. :)

But it is raining pretty good.
I always feel a little embarrassed/second guessish as a mom to my elementary kids when it's raining like this on school mornings. The other kids at our bus stop don't stand out in the rain... two get a "ride" to the bus stop and sit in their warm, dry cars at the curb until the bus pulls up. The other one gets a ride to school whenever a) they've not quite gotten up in time -which is every other day-, or b) it's raining.
Now, our bus comes a good 35+ minutes before school starts and we only live five, maybe ten minutes away from the school, so I understand if those extra twenty or so minutes of morning are important to you and you drive your kid there (even though the bus stops at your door step!) later. But for the rain??

My kids?
They stand out there in their raincoats. And if it's really raining; with umbrellas.
I don't even (gasp!) stand out there hovering over them with a golf umbrella. I have faith they can handle their own umbrellas. I stay warm and cozy in my dry house. :)
Hey, I served my time standing at bus stops in the rain! I grew up in Oregon. ;)
But seriously, they're standing two houses down the street here, I can see them from my front door, and they're not going to melt in the rain.

But morning after morning I do feel guilty; either that I'm not out there waiting for the bus with them (as the other parents do, rain or shine, like kids can't stand out at the bus stop -the bus stop that we can all see from our houses- on their own.), or especially when it's rainy weather and my kids are the lone two souls standing out there looking pathetic in the rain.
Only looking pathetic mind you, because they're seeing their fellow busees in their cars and trying to convince me to pull our car out and let them sit in it at the curb. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to start the car, back out of the driveway, pull two driveways down, park and sit there with the car running, only to have you arguing in my backseat rather than outside, two doors down, where I don't have to hear you to keep you warm and dry for an extra five minutes, wave you off on the bus and pull back into my garage.

But I do feel like the other parents feel bad for my kids? Or they look at my kids and think I'm a thoughtless mother and I don't care as much as they obviously do because they can't bear to let their children stand out in the morning rain (drizzle, usually) for a few minutes.

Tell me, do you see suburban kids waiting out at the bus stops? In the rain? Do I just need to get with the program and accept the fact that this isn't twenty-five years ago and parents are a staple at the bus stop nowadays? That parents drive their kids to bus stops now? That kids aren't expected to be dealing with the cold or the rain? Do I need to get over the fact that my bus stop growing up was never within eyeshot of my house and I never once had a parent there, got a ride there, let alone a ride to school just because of the weather. Usually my bus stop was around the corner and two or three "blocks" away. And let me tell you from experience, you get wet from the walking to the bus stop more than the standing at the bus stop.
We're talking I walked a mile, uphill both ways, in the snow, mind you. ;)

But seriously, my kids live the furthest from our bus stop and we're only two houses away and across the street.

Maybe it's just different here. It doesn't rain that often. And sometimes when it does it's often stormy, I'll grant that. But not usually in the morning. At bus time. I'm obviously not sending them out in a thunderstorm or a monsoon.

What about your kids and the bus? Your neighborhood kids?
Did you ride the bus as a kid? Do you have any bus stop stories to bust out??