The Stop After the Bridge

For parents & caregivers

Inside this story

Suki asks to be the one who presses the bus's stop button on the way home, as her older brother Dev did earlier. Her finger is ready at every stop until she realizes that the tricky part is knowing when. She asks Mum how to recognize their stop and is given two landmarks: the bumpity bridge and the fire station's red doors. When Dev invites her to play cat spotting, she enjoys it, then loses track of where they are. She checks with Mum, and then chooses on her own to tell Dev she can't play until the job is done. Dev keeps the score for her. Suki listens for the bridge, waits for the red doors and rings the bell. The bus stops at their own corner. On the quiet walk home she spots a sleepy cat in the window next door and gets her first point after all. Responsibility appears as a child-sized job she chose, clarified when unsure and saw through with her own attention. Asking questions is part of doing the job well. Nothing goes wrong, no one is scolded and there is no prize, lecture or moral summary.