I honesty can say I have no idea if I would step in. I probably would do the teacher thing and ask the child, "Would you like it if someone did that to you?" and look into it. Nowadays you don't know if a parent would take something the wrong way and hurt you or your child. There are a lot of crazy people out there.
What do you want the panelists to weigh in on? Email your ideas to editor Tamara O'Shaughnessy at tamara@chicagoparent.com.