Well, I can believe that some children are actually scared when you do that. I used to have meltdowns as a kid (and still do, but with much less frequency), and I was honestly scared I was going to die, that somehow the people would kill me, the people generally being my parents. There was no reason for this, logically - my parents had never harmed me, and certainly weren't harboring murderous thoughts towards me - but I still felt it.

I believe Ana was having an illness-induced tantrum, not a meltdown. I could be wrong, but it seemed like a tantrum. The two appear similar, but they're not the same. She's had things in the past which appear to me to have been meltdowns, a complete loss of control. Scary stuff, inside and out.

But even if she was just having a tantrum, I can believe she was honestly scared I might hit her. I was upset with her, hitting is something people do when they're upset, it's certainly something she does when she's upset, maybe I'd hit her. I wouldn't (and certainly not in public, and *especially* not once she said that... guess it served its purpose!), but I can see it being an actual, non-manipulative thought.