I have a nikon 55mm - 18mm lens?

I exposed the lens to about 30 seconds of light from a flashlight. Soon after the lens would not zoom and had a spherical discoloration. OR my daughter could have dropped it. Not sure here, my wife is the more educated person on cameras but we can't figure it out.

Light will have no effect on the lens. Therefore, your daughter must have dropped it, if those are indeed the only two possibilities

You can aim a flashlight at a lens for ten years, and it wouldn't hurt it.

There's no way light from a flashlight is going to damage a lens. If you think about it, the lens's job is to have light go trough it.

It must have been dropped. There maybe a case where repairs can fix the problem. If you have a decent photographic store near you, take it in for a quote. It maybe worth a repair.

Do you mean it will not zoom or will not focus? If it won't zoom, it means it must be damaged mechanically (it means, dropped) and you may hear something rattle when you turn the zoom ring.

If you mean it won't focus, check the AF switch, it may have been switched to M.

The camera is a light capturing device. Photography is the action of capturing light. Surely the flashlight can't destroy the camera by flashing the light alone.

Little children and cameras hardly go together in harmony. It's either the camera spooks the poor little being until she pees all over the place or the the little tyke gets the camera a career ending journey it wasn't meant to have.