I could understand if she patted him on the behind a few times but she went a bit overboard, especially with what looks like staff members standing by.
If you're gonna whoop your kid's ass save it for behind doors unless you want a social worker coming to the house every week.
There's a time and a place for major ass whoppings; you don't ever do that in public unless the kid is being unbearably bad. My parents, mother in particular, would save the real ass whoppings for whenever I and my sisters got home, literally the moment we walk in the door we'd start running for our bedrooms or hide behind furniture even sometimes blocking the door until she'd just forget it and let us off easy with a warning
.