<p>Both my parents work full time jobs. My mom gets home around 6/7 and my dad gets home very late, like 11PM/12AM if he's here, and he's often on business trips. </p>
<p>My mom gives me a ride to school and I usually get a ride home with a friend or stay at the local library until my mom can pick me up. </p>
<p>But I don't turn 16 until this October (my Junior year) and won't get my junior license until April-ish.
This makes it difficult for me to be able to volunteer/work at the places I want to, which usually close by 6PM. And I could only find 1 art class that I'd be able to take.
It's even worse during the summer because I have all this time and all these things I could be doing but I have no way of getting to them</p>
<p>the buses around my area don't go to my school or anywhere close to my house and also don't go anywhere close to where I need to be. </p>
<p>They're pretty much limited to NYC<-->main streets of various towns; main streets of various towns<-->main streets of other towns; main streets of towns<-->the mall; the mall<-->NYC</p>
<p>I live about 20 minutes away from my school by car and the places I need to go to are located in the middle of highways.</p>
<p>The kids I know whose parents work full-time are in your same situation OR their parents put them in private schools which have all kinds of after school activities right on campus OR they get in a carpool with a stay-at-home mom. The stay-at-home mom does drop off and the working parent does pick-up.</p>
<p>We have no public transportation in our area so car-pooling is the norm for after school activities. If your parents can never share in the car pooling perhaps they could offer to pay for gas for other parents and offer weekend car pool duty. </p>
<p>Mombot, I'm not sure if you realized that your post didn't have a very nice tone. Many kids do not have public transportation. Our High School is a 15 minute car ride and one would have to ride on numerous roads without shoulders with ditches on the sides, plus cross a four lane highway to get there. Car-pooling is the only way most kids get to do EC's. Even the kids set up car pools when they become of age but that's usually not until end of junior year or just as likely, senior year.</p>
<p>My son has band camp this summer so one mother drives my son and hers there at 5:45 pm and I pick them up at 9:30 pm.</p>
<p>I think I'm going to try harder to set up carpools. I just need to find more people who are interested in doing what I want to do. Unfortunately, a lot of my friends tend to be interested in math/science and I am into art/history</p>
<p>I'm sure this is frustrating to you - assuming you've thought of everything you could do yourself (and while jumping in a car is easy and most preferred method, yes you do have to get creative...) try to think of alternative possibilities...like...
- find volunteer possibilities closer to home - they may not be exactlly what you want, but it's a start...
- if you can carpool, offer to pay gas money to the parent or student you're riding with, especially if you get a hitch regularly. You may at least then feel that you're helping them out and not getting a handout.<br>
- Is there any volunteering that you can do after your mom gets home when she could give you a ride?</p>
<p>Have you talked to your parents about how uncomfortable you are with the situation? My opinion is that while I understand they have jobs they are responsible for, they are also responsible for getting you to AND home from school and helping out with EC's (assuming they support you doing them).</p>
<p>At our house, my job is flexible enough that it allows me to be home by 3pm when my kids get home and then I can haul around. I sometimes have to do a little work in the evening to make up the difference, but for me, it's worth it.</p>
<p>^^^Agree w/above posters about lack of public transit in our area. I was lucky that my D made friends with upperclassmen in the Theatre Dept. at her h.s. starting freshman year and yes, we did contribute towards gas when they carpooled (I was happy to). One of them took her under his wing and to this day still calls her his "little sister." She was darn lucky to have him, too.</p>
<p>And the lack thereof is why I like living in a more rural area. :) There are trade-off's for everything.</p>
<p>Kids around here are brought up with the carpooling concept. You start off carpooling for pre-school and then there are scouts and sports in elementary school. My all time favorite car-pool is the one after middle school dances when the kids forget who is driving and tell all.</p>
<p>Maybe you can find upperclassmen at your school that would be willing to drive you to your ECs for a small fee. Discuss it with your parents to see what they would be willing to pay. Guidance counselors or administrators at your school may know of reliable upper class students that could use the extra cash.</p>
<p>Some of mine kids friends, whose parents work crazy hours and therefore make decent money, have drivers (not babysistters) to drive them around after school. Those drivers also do some housework and make dinners. I live in the NY tri-state area. Most of those dual working parents go from full time nanny, to part time babysitterhousekeeper, then to driver/housekeeper until kids start driving. For them it's a cost of doing business.</p>
<p>"And if there area doesn't have much public transportation, then that may be something to fight for"</p>
<p>Evidently you have never lived where there is no public transportation, and no local agency/infrastructure/source to lobby for it. Starting from scratch would be a noble thing to do, but won't happen in this kid's high school career.
The nearest bus line for our kids to use is more than 10 miles from our house and going in the wrong direction. Bikes aren't safe along narrow 2 lane highways with 50 MPH speed limits. Like it or not, it's cars for just about everywhere you need to go.</p>
<p>We do have a couple of bus lines that stop on the highway near our town but they go to the big cities. I really don't think it's that big of a deal. I have never lived in a place that had public transportation. In small towns you just have to be creative. Just as city kids memorize bus times and lines, small town kids just have to be aware of who is going where, when and catch a ride!</p>
<p>We live in a semi-rural area with no public transportation at all...except the school buses to school. Forming carpools is a lifeskill around here, and began when the kids were in preschool. The nice thing was that we formed some wonderful friendships with the carpool crowd. And as Kathi mentioned...the kids (and we) became VERY adept at knowing who was going where...and when. Also, we all owned either small SUV's, station wagons, or minivans so we were forever driving 6 kids around. It was not a headache, and all of the families were willing to pitch in. I will say...neither of my kids had jobs before they were 16. We, however, did a ton of driving to get our kids to instrument lessons (two instruments each...) until each had a driver's license. It all worked out.</p>
<p>well, what about a moped? im in NJ, and you can get one when you're 15 yrs old. they're only like 700$ for a used one in good shape- somewhat expensive, but a summer job etc. can easily pay for one.</p>
<p>Oldfort reminded me that in our area, too, parents often use a driving service specifically for kids. You might try to get your parents to spring for a taxi.</p>
<p>I don't know if this will work for you, but is there some place safe to wait for your mom that's open? I note that you wait at the library--can you wait there after 6? Is there a Starbucks near where you want to work or volunteer where you could wait 'til your mom could come get you? Is there a mall where you could hang out?</p>
<p>Alamode -- about the only thing you can do is to actively seek out kids who go to the places you want to go and make friends with them and ask about carpooling/rides -- of course you may get some no, it won't work out answers, but keep trying, something will work out, but you have to work to make it happen. </p>
<p>I know one working mom that hired someone to drive her young child to swim practices. It's not something very common around here, but she wanted her daughter to get to a certain place at a certain time and it was the only way she could figure out to do it.</p>