Discipline

Today was kind of a rainy day, so we thought we would go to the PERC, which is an indoor playplace. It is government funded and probably aimed at the lower income families, but of course everyone is welcome to use it. It is free and a great place for the kids to play.
The kids (Ethan and Virginia) played for a good half an hour before anyone eles showed up. Two kids (one probably about 5 and one little girl 3) came in and started playing. Ethan LOVES other children so he went up to say hi. The little girl was not interested and kind of pushed him out of the way. Rude, yes, but not he mother of the girl but the mother of the little boy told the little girl to be gentle. Good parenting.
After awhile the little girl was sitting in the middle of a large tunnel. There are holes all in the sides, it is pretty wide (wide enough for two children to pass each other). The little girls mom was sitting RIGHT beside the tunnel, Ethan sarted crawling through (I could see them both and the little girl didn't like Ethan coming through) so she HIT him. Not just a little girl hit, like a hit/shove. I ran over to grab Ethan. Little girls mom, DOES NOTHING, SAYS NOTHING. Ethan trys to continue on through to get the heck away from this little girl and she again HITS Ethan hard. I was fuming. The mother SAID NOTHING. I grabbed Ethan and we left the entire place.
I have always taught Ethan to be GENTLE around other kids and not to hit. Ethan seems to understand that he he is only 15 months. This little girl was FAR older than Ethan and his mother was right there. I think the thing that made me the most angry was the fact that she said nothing. She didn't say "Don't hit honey" or "Be Gentle". She just sat there and watched her little girl hit my son. If Ethan hit someone (espeically as hard as she hit him) I would attempt to tell Ethan that hitting is wrong, and then apologize to the mother.
I don't know maybe that is just me, everyone has their own parenting techniques. Just can't figure out what hers was.....