Staffer hits friend's kid at daycare; terrible red ants; hot!

My wife's friend has a child almost the same age as Joanna, close to 30 months old. This poor kid was slapped at least twice by one of the employees at a daycare center in Bien Hoa where the little girl used to go.  Phuong and I watched a video of the incident, which the dad sent us. It's incredibly disturbing. This is what the dad told us: The baby, who I'll call baby Chap,  accidentally bumped into another child. The other child was fine and didn't take offense, but the staffer seemed angry. The staffer slapped Chap's bottom. Then baby Chap didn't want to take a nap, and the staffer, a woman who is pregnant, straddled the child on the "nap mat" so she couldn't get up, and used a towel to hold her down. That's when we saw the staffer slap the toddler twice with an open hand -- on her leg and bottom -- on the video. We also saw the woman using the towel to control the child, but because of the camera angle at the daycare center we couldn't see exactly how the towel was used to restrain baby Chap. We cringed at the thought the towel might have been across the baby's face.  The dad told my wife he complained to the police, but their reaction was to request that the baby and staffer "re-enact" the incident. The dad said no thank you, and that ended the police involvement. We know the parents and child. The parents seem wonderful and caring, and the child is sweet as can be. Baby Chap didn't scream or fight back on the two videos we saw -- they're about two and a half minutes apiece. The whole thing rattled me and Phuong.  Joanna and I walk by a daycare center pretty close to our house quite often. It's the one with the Disney characters and Winnie the Pooh gang on the outside wall. I hear the women speaking rather sharply to the kids, but I hope part of that is just how the language is spoken here. The tones can sound extremely harsh. I tell people who raise their voice at me that shouting doesn't help me understand what you are saying any better.  It might help me understand you a little better, but not what you're saying. Raising your voice most likely intimidates little children. I care a lot about this because there's a remote possibility Joanna could go to school here if my wife is never granted a visa to enter the United States. I don't want strangers, or teachers, or anyone else slapping Joanna, or any other child. Joanna is extremely sensitive about being disciplined in any way (see the blog about a security guard yelling at her 12/23/2018). I don't want my daughter going to a school where corporal punishment is accepted or tolerated in any form.

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When Joanna and I go to the park our routine now includes a visit to a tree containing tons of red ants. For Joanna, the adjectives HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE are part of the name of the red ants. When Joanna approaches the tree -- and she often gets way too close -- she'll point and say HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE, RED ANTS. This nomenclature stems from the fact she was once covered with red ants while rolling around on the grass near a tree, and I told her that red ants are ... well, horrible and terrible. That brought the message home about red ants, but she watches them every day in fascination as they march up and down the tree. HORRIBLE. TERRIBLE. And she still gets way too close to them and tries to touch them sometimes. HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE, RED ANTS.

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The heat is back on here after a week of relatively pleasant weather that saw temperatures plunge into the high 80s. Last weekend Phuong and I played tennis in 94-degree weather (Jan. 6), and of course the match was an epic struggle that wiped us out Sunday night and most of Monday. We only played one set but it went to a tiebreaker with the final score 10-8. One game had eight deuce points and lasted 15-20 minutes. Our clothes were soaked and after the match we just sat there staring into space for a few minutes. Meanwhile, Joanna and her cousin raced around the court with a soccer ball.  It's Wednesday and we're still talking and laughing about the match. The heat hasn't let up any, either.