By and large, our children are quite safe taking those big yellow vehicles to and from school. School buses are 7 times safer than passenger cars or light trucks and, in the last year, less than 15 people died while riding in them. However, recent accidents involving school buses alert us to the reality that perhaps the buses could be even safer. Many buses are worn down and too old to be on the roads and, though most drivers are top notch, a few drive too fast — which creates all kinds of potential danger both to the children bouncing around inside a speeding bus and because it increases the risk of an accident — or simply lack the necessary skill to maneuver a large vehicle in poor conditions. While it would be expensive to replace school buses with new ones and to add safety belts to all buses, it’s worth it where our children are involved.

As I mentioned on Sunday’s FOX News Live program, it may be wise to have a federal agency enforce strict standards about bus quality (involving mileage, hours driven, or simply years of age) and driver excellence so that there is consistency across all the school districts of our country (you can see Jamie Colby’s article and a video of the segment at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,245082,00.html). Federal funds could be used to supplement for less financially privileged districts. In addition to making sure that buses are equipped with seat belts, I also think that adding another adult to a bus, to keep students buckled in their seats and behaving so the driver can concentrate on the driving, makes good sense. Because of cost, it may be worth it for districts to use parent or grandparent volunteers to ride the buses with the children. One extra adult on each bus may be very beneficial.

As a result of the fear stirred up by the Missouri kidnappings (one boy was abducted at a bus stop), it’s interesting to note that a company called VersaTrans Solutions has software that can not only help buses design their routes, but can also feed a driver information on the registered child predators who live along a given route.

We, as parents, can advocate for changes regarding bus safety. We can also do simple things right now to help ourselves, including making sure we have the names and phone numbers of the bus drivers, dispatchers, and bus companies involved in transporting our children. We can also ask to see bus maintenance records to ensure the buses are kept in top shape.

My five year old was a bit thirsty the other day, so he said, “I want some apple spider.” So I thought, should I get the juice before or after the arachnid goes up the water spout?

Since you don’t have NFL football to keep your TV occupied until next week, consider tuning into Sunday’s (January 28) FOX News Live to find Gregory Keer’s recommendations for safety on the school bus and at the bus stop. Program is slated to air at 11:48 am PST/2:48 pm EST.

Babies have a way of testing the best of marriages. Pre-kids, husbands and wives may work well together, being loving and kind and perhaps doing a decent job of managing a house and finances. Once a kid enters the picture, the responsibility level goes through the roof. You have more than just each other to care for and you may well disagree with choices about parenting style, foods to feed the little one, and who can best care for a child when one or both of you are away. There are all of these grandparents and involved friends who have words of advice and ways of invading your personal space. There’s always the subject of money: how to spend it and save it (now you have to plan for preschool, possible private school, and college). Then, there is sex — or the lack thereof. Husbands and wives have plenty to tear at them once they are in the family way. So, how can we keep the relationship healthy, for the sake of ourselves and our children?

Mom-authors Stacie Cockrell, Cathy O’Neill, and Julia Stone deliver Babyproofing Your Marriage (http://www.babyproofingyourmarriage.com) a superbly organized, down-to-earth manual about marital challenges and solutions. The writers have at least two kids each and have had many successes both at home and in the workplace, so they know the issues of modern parents. Providing advice from their personal experiences, their husbands, and other parents, the women tackle the big issues at play in a marriage affected by children. The seven quick-moving chapters (lots of subheads keep the content manageable for parents with little time to read) cover everything from keeping score (how partners tally up how much each person does for the family — I’m definitely guilty of that!) to sex (stressing the unique effects a new baby has on intimacy) to having more kids (chaos reigns, so how do we manage it for the good of the marriage?).

Adding to the overall experience are Larry Martin’s witty illustrations, which enhance the already approachable humor used throughout the book. And particularly helpful is the summary of suggestions on pages 255-263, titled “How to Live Happily Ever After in Four Easy Steps (Ha!).” Although the tips in this section are not meant to be a cure-all, they do synthesize the ideas put forth in the book.

With Valentine’s Day coming up, Babyproofing Your Marrriage is a fine gift for your favorite wife or husband. Read it together or simply use to start discussions and find your own solutions. Remember that taking care of your marriage is one of the best things you can do for your kids.

Some very good points are made about my comments on the situation in which the airline removed a family from a plane because their tantruming child would not buckle into a seat. Most of the feedback stresses that I put too much blame on the airline for their insensitivity and impatience (Dianne Williamson of the Worcester Telgram writes that an AirTran employee took the time to lecture the parents on how to discipline their child - http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070121/COLUMN01/701210459/1008/NEWS02?page1). However, I do want to clarify that, in the FOX segment, I did point out that the parents bear responsibility and should have taken an upper hand to get their child. My thoughts were — and are — that we do have to get tough with our kids when it comes to behavior that negatively affects themselves and others. Children will forgive our toughness, if administered firmly and without anger. I also made suggestions on how to prepare a child for a trip and keep them safely occupied during a flight.

In the AirTran case, much was in the control of the parents, but I do feel the airline acted too quickly and judgementally. The three-year-old was upset for this leg of the trip, despite showing superb behavior on the first leg and on the rescheduled flight home. Although the parents made mistakes on the “tantrum flight,” the airline could have handled it better. For more on the “AirTran-trum” situation, read Meredith O’Brien’s commentary at http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/bostonMommy/ and see further details on the story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16766215/.

The FOX News Live folks are likely changing my segment topic for tomorrow to cover the story about the family that was kicked off an AirTran Airways flight because their tantruming child was delaying the takeoff from Orlando, Florida (http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8MR41C02.html). The parents were having great difficulty getting their three-year-old to sit and buckle into her seat (which they paid for) and the flight crew decided to remove the passengers rather than hold up the effort to get the jet into the air. While the parents might have done more to coax their child into her seat (air travel with kids is painful enough to warrant bribing children to sit), the airline made a rash and insensitive move. Air travelers and airlines expect crying children, even if they don’t like it. More tolerance and assistance for the family would have gone a long way. Tune in tomorrow morning to FOX News Channel at 7:35 am PST/10:35 am EST to hear more.

Tomorrow morning, tune in to the FOX News Live program on the FOX News Channel as I roll out my thoughts about the dangers of the ever more popular skate shoes called Heelys. The segment is scheduled for a 10:35 am EST/7:35 am PST airing and I’ll go over the risks of the shoes and how to address the safety concerns with your kids.

The ever-growing debate about whether parents should spank their kids is headed for discussion in the California state legislature (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/16487654.htm). The bill, which is still being drafted, wants to make it illegal to spank children up to three years old. Personally, I see positive and negatives in bringing such a bill to the fore. Among many questions that will be asked are whether the government should have any say in a parent’s choice to use spanking as a form of discipline. Although I do not spank my own kids, I do not feel that a law should pry into family’s home. Part of the problem is that what needs to be determined is the definition of spanking. Is a light whack to the rear end, which some parents use, legally reprehensible? If spanking can be defined as abuse, then is it not covered under pre-existing laws against domestic violence?

However, discussing the potential bill does have benefits. It may help parents see the dangers of physical discipline. Some parents really feel they can use it effectively, yet too many spank or hit in fits of rage to control their children. We need to define the parameters more and put a focus on another big issue — anger management. Bringing to light that a lot of otherwise sensible parents lose control might help bring about more support for education and programs to assist parents with anger problems. Lastly, is the question of whether or not physical discipline actually works. Many of the recent studies on the subject show that non-physical options can be successful and do not carry with them the potential for long-term fear and resentment that spanking and the like can cause. Seeing that this subject sparks a lot of opinion, please write in and give us yours.

On January 4, when Consumer Reports, a magazine I trust, sounded the alarm about most car seats miserably failing crash tests, I got worried. The report said that car seats “failed disastrously” in side-impact crashes that clocked about 35 mph (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/4481654.html). I have two kids who are still using car seats and, if the seats really didn’t work, I wondered if I should chuck my sedan for a tractor-trailer truck to keep my sons safe. But in an admirable move of editorial responsibility, the magazine rescinded the report (on January 18) after receiving more information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, explaining that the test crashes involved speeds of around 70 mph. We’ll have to wait for more reports, but, for now, it’s evident that most car seats — when properly installed — still provide a significant increase in child safety in the event of a car crash.

In November, I helped surpervise a trip to the American South on what was primarily a journey to retrace the steps of the Civil Rights movement of the ’50s and ’60s. Being a big-city boy from the West, I really did not know much about the South and what I knew of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his colleagues came from school, books, and movies. The journey, led by teaching colleague and experiential education guru Mark Shpall, was awe-inspiring from the civil rights perspective. We met African-American Baptist ministers who marched with King and made many of the early sacrifices for racial equality. We planted our feet at the stop where Rosa Parks got on that famous bus. For me, the most difficult moment was standing inches from where King was murdered at the Lorraine Motel (now a National Civil Rights Museum) in Memphis, Tennessee.

But the really touching part was being with my high-school students, kids so far removed from that tumultuous time. They were contemplative in the museums, captivated by the speeches, and fascinated with getting to know some of the people of the South. Their response to the trip showed that they were deeply affected by the spirit of King. The experience made them more aware of the need to model and advocate for even greater tolerance and open-mindedness in this country and beyond.

Of the many places we visited, one of the most impressive was the supremely informative Civil Rights Memorial Center, run by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, Alabama. The SPLC does legal work on behalf of those severely affected by discrimination and hate crimes. They also publish a Web site called Tolerance.org (http://www.tolerance.org/) and a magazine called Teaching Tolerance that is a terrific tool for parents and teachers of young people. In the new issue, they discuss the Japanese internment camps of World War II and recommend ways to educate children of those with mental illness. At the Web site, of relevance to MLK Day is the piece on explaining racisim to a preschooler (http://www.tolerance.org/parents/kidsarticle.jsp?ar=55).