A troubling incident

This little incident troubled me a great deal.

Evening time, we brought Faith out for a swim at the SAFRA Yishun pool before dinner. I was with Faith in the changing room to clean her up after her swim.

As we were finishing, a maid walked in with her charge, a little girl that looked to be around 2 years old, plus minus some. She immediately proceeded to remove the girl's clothes and diapers, telling her repeatedly not to pee and to let her know if she needed to "shh-shh".

Out came the clothes and diapers and as the maid was digging in her bag for the swimming diapers and costume, the little girl let loose with a volley of pee. She peed some onto her shoes (which the maid had yet to remove) and a little onto the bag as it was very close to her.

The maid immediately exclaimed loudly, starting to scold and smack the girl on the feet, all the while saying "You naughty girl! I told you not to shh-shh... if you want to shh-shh, must tell me!".

As I contemplated telling her off for smacking the girl, she finished dressing the girl in her swimming costume and headed out of the toilet.

I passed Faith to Louis, who was waiting outside, and headed to shower and change myself. All the time, I was pondering in my mind about the little incident that I had just witnessed.

After I was done, I left the toilet and took a peek at the pool area to see if I could spot the girl and the maid. I saw her and the maid, together with what must be both the girls' parents. The mom was pregnant and both the mom and dad were already in their swimming costumes.

As I continued with my internal debate whether to approach the parents, I decided to ask Louis for his opinions. In the end, we decided to leave things alone. Becos they didn't witness the incident, we wouldn't know how the parents would interpret the situation even if we had recount it factually to them. We wouldn't know how they would handle the issue with the maid either.

What troubled me a great deal was that the maid was so quick to smack the girl for something that wasn't even a behavioural transgression. Why didn't the maid prepared the swimming diapers readily on hand when she took out the normal ones out? Why didn't the mom went in with the maid? Does the maid have a habit of smacking the girl for little wrong-doings, warranted or otherwise? Would the little girl be able to articulate to her parents if the maid hits or smacks her too hard?

To give the maid the benefit of the doubt, I have no idea how well-trained or untrained the girl was in toilet training. She might not be aware either that the ability for bladder control requires certain maturity of physical development in the child.

It would be so easy to dismiss the entire incident and say not to ever leave your kids with a maid. Yet, I know that there are some maids who are the kindest and most loving care-givers to their charges. For some, a maid is an indispensable help or even part of the family.

This incident highlights yet another reason why I'm ever thankful that I am a SAHM and fortunate enough that both sets of Faith's grandparents are more than willing to help out with the caring of Faith too.

I hope for the little girl's sake that this was one of the rare occasions that the maid lifted her hands to smack her and that there would not be many situations in which the parents would leave the girl alone with the maid.

And I hope too that I did not make a wrong decision in not telling the parents.