Letting Go

After being greeted with "why are you here? I just want to ride the bus!!" everytime I picked up Jonah from kindergarten, I finally caved and P&J are now riding the bus home in the afternoons from school. Of course I talked with the principal and their teachers first before I made the decision. I was super paranoid and had visions of bullies cornering my kids on the bus and no one but a distracted bus driver to intervene. I was reassured and talked down from my worries and so far it's been good, our first few weeks have gone well, until yesterday.
Payton came home saying there's a boy on the bus who likes to hurt girls with a "sharp plastic thing" on the bus. He told her he's coming after her today b/c she was warning the girls he was coming under their seats, to which Jonah quickly stepped up and said, "I'll just punch him in the face!!" Where does he get this stuff? Although it was a very gallant, protective gesture we told Jonah there were other ways to solve things. We actually told them that if the boy started to bother them they should just bust out in a funky dance and then everyone will laugh and it will all be all right. I'm cracking myself up even now as I type, I can't believe this is the advice we were offering our poor children. Perhaps we use humor way too much in our parenting.
We actually did get serious about it. Issues like this are tricky b/c of course no one wants to tattle. Payton said she did not want to tell the bus driver which I can understand, I'd feel the same way. So I asked her if she wanted me to mention it to the bus driver when she got dropped off today since it's almost the last stop on the route and not a lot of kids would be around. Payton was visibly relieved by this solution.
It's so crazy, I feel like we just successfully resolved the Jupiter/Stupider problem and then the very next day there's a bully on the bus. My first response to her telling me about it was, "I knew it, the bus is terrible, they're totally not going to ride it anymore." And then right away I felt like God's voice reminded me my job was not to remove my kids from the world, but to teach them to live in it with wisdom and love. Such a tall order! I'm only at the beginning of our school years, there is so many more issues and teachable moments to come! I just hope we're ready for them, and maybe our funky dance suggestion might just come into play one time and work.