To Cane, or Not To Cane..?

The part time maid who is cleaning our apartment asked me one day: "Do you use cane to hit your child?"
Shocked by her question [since zee was only 8 month old then], i quickly replied with "No! Of course not! I'm not gonna hit her with any cane!" Not now, not ever, i added silently.
She just smiled. Curious, i asked her back whether she was using cane for her daughters. She replied no.

That episode would have been completely forgotten if today when i was with my friend waiting for the bus i did not see an elderly chinese lady carrying a rattan cane in her hand. She was traveling with two little girls, one about 5 years old and one about 2 years old, both my guess were her grand children.
When i saw the cane, i quickly told my friend about it. It was actually not very noticeable. The length of the cane was about 50 cm and about as thick as my forefinger. It shaped like a walking cane but smaller.
What made me intrigued was the fact that she's actually carrying it when traveling with her grandchildren. What was the need? Will they be behaving bad enough to receive a cane??
Or she brought it 'just in case'?

Whatever the reason is, it was quite a horror for me to imagine those two small girls got beat up with a nasty rattan cane which, i truly believe, hurt terribly!
I mean hey, they're only kids. Very little kids too.
My friend whisper to me that that's how singaporean discipline their children, both chinese and malay (not sure about the indian though). That's why she's having second thought all the time about sending her daughter to a school here.
Phew...

I choose NOT to cane!!!