The first day of school can be nervewracking for kids, especially those embarking upon a journey to preschool or kindergarten.
Some kids cannot wait to return to the normalcy that school brings to their lives, while others would rather hang out at home all day watching Netflix or playing video games.
Wisconsin kiddo Axel was escorted onto the big yellow bus by his mom, Amy Johnson for his first day of school.
He seemed perfectly fine at first, until he approached the noisy and stinky vehicle with mounting trepidation.
Mom Amy couldn’t wait to immortalize the moment with a photo of Axel on the bus, she told CNN.
He was starting 4K, a pre-kindergarten year for kids ages four and younger that occurs in an elementary school setting.
But when he laid eyes on the approaching bus about to whisk him off to school and away from his mom, he burst into tears.
“He was super excited to go, but when the bus came around corner he was really quiet. The bus opened the door and I looked at him and he started crying.”
Amy lifted up Axel gingerly and encouragingly set him on the school bus, but he clung tightly to her. He wasn’t about to let go.
Bus driver Isabel Lane felt so sorry for the sweety who was having a meltdown on the bus.
“I told him, ‘Buddy, you got this and will have so much fun.”
Amy tried to quickly escape so that the bus could continue on to school and Axel hopefully would pull himself together, but he kept grabbing for her.
The sweet little boy didn’t want his mommy to leave him.
“I stuck my hand behind the seat as maybe something else to grab onto and he grabbed my hand.”
Mom scampered down the stairs of the bus and spun around to check on her baby boy one last time, hoping to capture a photo of him.
She snapped one that broke her heart and made her feel extreme gratitude toward Isabel.
“I could see that he needed to be comforted and that was the best I could do at the time.”
The popular parenting book series What To Expect explains that it’s perfectly normal for kids to break down when it’s time to separate.
The book notes that even if a wee one is “howling like a banshee and clinging like a barnacle,” chances are good that he or she will be just fine a few minutes after a parent leaves.
The Augusta Police Department saw Amy’s photo and loved it. The department shared the photo on Facebook and people around the world ooed and awwed over it.
“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal personally. It was just something I felt I should do. If you see someone struggling, just reach out a hand. You don’t have to say anything. But it can make a big difference in someone’s day.”
Thankfully, Isabel and Axel chatted and by the time they reached the end of his road, he had stopped crying.
Isabel said she wants to make sure every student knows how important he or she is.
“A big win for me is every morning I tell the kids as they get off to make it a good day and when I have a kid who I know doesn’t like to go to school say, ‘Yeah, I’ll try.’ It makes me feel good because they heard me and I hope it makes them feel like they can be heard.”
Even though Axel’s first day of school had a rough start, Amy said he hops on the bus every day ready to go and “loves school.”
Watch Isabel and Alex in the video below and see how deeply she cares for her kiddos. What a wonderful bus driver!
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