Should I have said something ?

[GettingStuffed]

Yesterday we ( DGS , DD, DSiL and DS2) took my grandson to the aquarium for a birthday treat. There was a man and his son ( I assume,) walking around at the same speed as us. The child kept barging into me and at one point stood In front of me and punched me.

I didn't say anything as I thought the child might have had learning difficulties. DD agreed with me.

I now wonder if I should have told the father as he wouldn't have known he did it as the child was behind him.

YABU you should have told the father
YANBU the father was probably aware of his child's behaving

I would have just told the child off and said ‘don’t punch people, it’s not nice’ in a loud enough way for the father to hear.

The child punched you and you didn’t say a word to the father? You could have spoken to him politely as it’s not okay for any child to punch people, SEN/ND or not.

The child may well have had additional needs. I'd have simply said 'STOP' and held my hand up. A short verbal instruction and a visual cue.
Not a nice thing to happen to you , but the kid could have been overwhelmed.

If my autistic son had randomly punch someone, I’d want to know. Yes you’d hope there was a bit of understanding but I’d also be keeping him glued to me for the remainder of the outing.

And I'm sure the dad would have heard too!

Should have said something to the child loud enough for the dad to hear.

Yes, of course you should have said something.
Having additional needs doesn't mean you ignore dangerous behaviour.

Yes, you should have told the child to stop in a loud enough voice for dad to hear. However, it is really easy to say what you should have done when we weren't there. Hugs

This ^^ obviously.

I never get all the MN hand wringing after such normal events.

You should've told the kid but you didn't, so forget about it.