Lack of Affection

Last summer, I took care of my friend's five year old daughter for a half day.
It was extremely taxing due to her relentless attempts to capture my attention.
The most unacceptable behavior observed was
when she grabbed and squashed my Panama hat.
Since we were outside and there was no place to hide it,
my attempts to stop her behavior were futile.
Then, her behavior escalated which resulted in
my hat being tossed into the garbage can.
Even though her behavior was bad,
I feel she was challenging me to see my reaction.

Once my friend returned, I explained the conduct of her daughter
while attempting to avoid a confrontation.
I tried not to remind her when a kinder garden teacher commented on similar misbehavior.

When I interact their daughter, I often feel that
she doesn't receive enough of her parents' affection and discipline.
I feel that parent's could easily dismiss a teacher's comments rather easily
while believing that most children commonly display this type of behavior.

Although I felt that something was apparently wrong.

I met with my friend and her daughter the other day.
The girl continues to behave like she did before.


As this kind of topic is inherently sensitive to talk about,
I find it very difficult to express my concerns to my friend.