Clarification

I wondered about a couple of the comments on my last entry, and realized I wasn't specific.  The kid hit Natalie.  "Put his hands on her" could be quite misleading.  She was probably mouthing off, but he's older and has no business hitting her or anybody else.

Mom talked to the bus driver, and I told her to sit farther forward.  The bus driver will watch for problems, but there's only a week of summer school left.  Yesterday, Natalie was telling a story that the kid didn't want her to tell (about his sister getting hurt on the playground) and he called her a retard as he was getting off the bus.  I told her that name-calling was a pain in the neck, and not nice, but kids are going to do that.  I'm not going to get up-in-the-air about a name...just don't hit her.

All in all, I let my kids sort problems out on their own, unless I feel an adult needs to step in.  She needs to learn to defend herself verbally and protect herself emotionally, but when it gets physical, we do something about it. 

One more week, baby.  Then we'll see Lyndsay and have some fireworks and you can escape to Grammy's for a while.