pretty much siding with most of the opinions here. adults know better than children, especially special needs children. a kid gets mad and throws something at you, you don't beat the shit out of them for it. we call that 'child abuse', and when that's something that someone does who parents have entrusted with the well being of their children... that's not good.

i get that kids are frustrating as fuck. i get that special needs individuals are frustrating as fuck. i get that mixing the two together makes you want to do some drastic shit sometimes and it's possible for someone to just lose control and slip up that one time. but once is all it takes for a slap to be too hard and hit wrong or the kid to fall and hurt themselves or whatever other terrible shit can happen. on top of that, the parents are hardly going to be okay with someone smacking their kids around. childcare workers have to learn to be the bigger person. go outside. scream into a pillow. be the adult in the situation.

tbh, i'd be more upset if you'd seen it and hadn't done anything about it.