Random Act of Kindness - to balance all the ranty threads, tell me of a random act of kindness that you have never forgotten.

[MmeLindor.]

There is a lovely thread in Classics about Random Acts of Kindness so I thought we could do with a lovely fluffy thread to distract us from the shooting and disembowelment going on at the moment.

I will start.

When DD was going through the "terrible twos", she had a tantrum at the supermarket. She lay on the floor and wept bitterly because I would not give her what she wanted it. I tried reasoning with her, I tried being stern, and finally I walked away.

The sound of her screams echoed in the supermarket, people were looking at us. I thought that they were judging me, thinking that I was a bad mother.

A man walked by with his two daughters - about 9 and 11yo they were. He stopped, patted my arm and said, "It is a phase. It passes. You are doing the right thing".

It meant so much to me, that I was not alone and that other people were not judging me but feeling sorry for me. And probably being thankful that their DC were past that stage.

Has a stranger ever done or said something nice to you that you still remember years later?

carocaro that is lovely :(

A friend of mine who is a bus driver told me a story about this school age girl he says hi to who travels regularly on his route. He said she is "a bit of a big girl for her age".
Anyway one day she is on his bus sitting by the window and a load of schoolkids start banging on the glass next to her and shouting abuse, even taking pics of her through the window on their phones, generally being horrible about her looks/weight while she just sat there, head bowed.

My friend said he looked around and all the other passengers were ignoring the situation :(

So he got off the bus and shouted at them to clear off, telling them that when they are older they will look back at themselves and be ashamed. He then got back on and told the girl not to worry about idiots like that.
When she got off the bus she mumbled a shy thanks. I like to think she will always remember the grumpy bus driver sticking up for her :)

lovely to read these stories. My husband and I once drove across the Southern States of America. It was our last day, feeling a bit sad about leaving. We were driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, sun setting, beautiful views, windows down. We pulled up at a traffic light next to a van loaded with fresh strawberries. They smelled amazing and I said so to my husband. The man driving the van, smiled at me, got out of his van, went round the back, took off a box of strawberries and gave them to me. Then hopped in his van and drove off with a cheery smile and wave. It was a real God bless America moment. (and the strawberries were bloomin gorgeous)

Helenagrace I am snuffling like a fool at your DH helping that family get home. I can imagine how vulnerable they felt with such a young baby - it must have meant the world to them at that moment.

We hired a couple of bikes in Greece and took off the beaten track. After peddalling like biliie O for miles we finally stopped at a cafe and plonked ourself down on the welcoming veranda underneath a coca cola sign. It took quite a while for us to be served and unable to speak much Greek we pointed at the the coca cola sign. We had a conversation in the international language of smiling and pointing and everyone was very very friendly and smiley..
Finally, we asked for the bill to be met by a great deal of laughter and head shaking.
It transpired we had plonked ourselves on the varanda of someones house!!
They were so kind to us pair of ejits.

Oh this thread is beautiful and moving me to tears!

When I was 17 and travelling back from the states on my own I had a day to wait in Seattle, I met a lovely guy who gave me a tour of the markets and got the four seasons hotel to look after my luggage and get me a taxi to the airport when it was time to go!

The woman who sat next to me on the train when my abusive marriage was ending and who I ended up pouring my heart out to, who told me I was doing the right thing and that it would all be ok.

The mechanic in NZ who gave us a brand new battery for our van while ours was on charge at his garage, we left and carried on touring for a few days and then went back to pick ours up, but for all he knew we could have just carried on driving with that lovely new battery and never come back.

The world is full of beautiful people.

During lunch, my not-quite-2 year old had a severe allergic reaction to her food while I was feeding the baby. She was screaming with the pain in her throat, her skin went blotchy and her lips swelled up; cue frantic drive to the local A&E hospital with a crying hungry baby and a very frightened toddler.

I'll never forget the people I met in the car park. I literally asked strangers for money for the machine - I had no change - and 2 or 3 sorted me out. Another lovely lady in her 30s/40s helped me carry the baby's rock-a-tot all the way into the A&E reception and ensured I was to be taken straight in. I meant to thank her via the local paper but never got around to it.

Oh girls that must have been AWFUL! Thank goodness for those people! I once had to take my DD who was 2 to A&E after she bunmped her head and that was stressful enough...I had my 7 year old with me too but the A&E people were lovely to me. People ARE nice arent they?

oh aqua - that is brilliant!

Oh and a lovely lady who helped me put ds1 aged 2 months in his car seat outside M&S at the Kew retail park, I was hot and sweaty, my boobs were leaking and I was crying as our flat sale had just fallen through for the 2nd time and I had just watched a mum, daughter and baby grand daughter having a lovely happy lunch together in the M&S cafe and I just missed and wanted to be with my Mum so much (were were selling the flat to be nearer to her). The lady was so kind and said something like 'don't worry, we've all been there and these car seats are a bugger to do up at the best of time!". My first taste that special club of mums who know, worth it's weight in weight in gold and platinum!!

When ds 3 was in scbu we had to supply nappies, one day we were running short and the lady whos baby was next to ds (and was a lot more ill than ds) offered us the use of some of her daughters nappies..

When dd1 went missing, the lovely lady who helped us so much...turned out dd was hiding in the shop we had been in but the shop staff did nothing at all but this lovely lady saw how distressed I was and really helped.

The lovely neighbour who defrosts my car every single morning when it's frosty. If he knows I am on nights he does it in the evening too

Another one. My parents run a pub and had someone in that was getting sweary, drunk etc at lunchtime. Mum refused to serve him anymore and asked him to leave. The pathetic excuse for a man twisted my mums arm behind her back and shoved her into a wall. She is 62 and has a lack of mobility in one arm from a prev injury
A group of hooded young men pushed him off my mum and out the pub and helped her back inside. They saw him drive off - staggering drunk
Karma was when mum rang the police with his registration. Local paper reported he was charged with drink driving, driving with no insurance, speeding and no MOT

Thank you to all the Mums and Dads at DDs school who have scooped me up in the rain and driven me home so I don't have to wait for the bus! Lovely people.

Oh I don't know if the lady is on here?!
A woman burst into tears in my mum at the checkout in the supermarket. She was pregnant and just found out it was twins, and couldn't get hold of her partner to tell him. She was so excited and desperate to tell him, so she told my mum first instead. Mum made my dad pay for her shopping as a congratulations gift

DD was 2 years old and throwing a major tantrum in the middle of town. She had runny poo all down her legs. She'd messed herself in town, and lost it as a consequence. She was too big to carry and urgently needed cleaning up.

A complete stranger took pity on me. She helped me carry daughter, poo and all, to the M&S toilet so I could get her into some clean things.

Thank you, Stranger. I hope you didn't catch the D&V that followed for the rest of us.

Lovely lovely thread.

The nurse who said "we're so sorry for your loss" when I was hospitalised with a miscarriage. A small thing which meant an awful lot.

I once threw up and fainted outside Pizza Express at Bluewater, having left DH and DD1 in there when I began to feel strange (migraine). The kind people who were asking me if I was okay when I came round, went to fetch DH, gave me tissues to mop up and ran to get a glass of water.

To the nice man who lives in the bungalow opposite the park in our village.

Thank you so much for racing out of your house with an enormous umbrella when the heavens opened and I was doing battle with a raincover to keep the baby dry, while trying to persuade a 2 yo DS1 to put his coat back on. And thank you even more for holding the brolly over me while I accomplished these tasks, while getting soaked yourself.

You are a true gentleman

These are all such lovely gestures , I must live in a horrid town , Can't think of the slightest thing

I remember sitting feeding DS in town one day when he was about 6 weeks old. He was a high maintenance baby (difficult delivery, reflux, colic, etc) and I had been pretty ill. I was feeling really lonely and not sure whether I was any good at this mothering thing when I saw two mummies with older babies (about 10 months)...I couldn't imagine getting to that point...they just smiled and asked how old he was and said 'oh you look great and so organised, I couldn't even get out of a dressing gown at that stage...'. They were so kind and it meant so much at that time - really, really helped (he is 5.5 years now!). I always try to pay that one forward...

my 17 year old nephew decided to walk part of the West Highland Way last summer with two friends. After days of relentless rain, his friends bailed out but DN was determined to finish. Unfortunately his "friends" took the only lighter with them, leaving him unable to light his camp stove and have hot food. Freezing cold, hungry and soaked to the skin he plodded on, asking any other walkers he met if he could buy matches or a lighter from them. No luck. Eventually he met an older couple and asked them if they had a lighter. The man asked DN "Are you an honest man?" to which he replied "yes, sir, I am."
The man then threw him his car keys and said "My car is parked down the track. Sit in it and get warm and then take the lighter from the glove compartment.Just leave the keys in the car door pocket"

Firstly thanks to MmeLindor for a lovely thread. This really should be on a sort of annual repeat. I am bawling my eyes out.

I was 41+5 with DD when I ran out of petrol on the way to another prodding by yet another set of midwives. I waddled into a motorbike shop and they brought out a can of petrol for the car and wouldn't take any money. Dd and I took in beer and money a fortnight later, and they were sweetly proud of heir little part in her advent.

The wonderful store manager in Next who when smallest child fell and spilt the back of his head open.She took us into the staff room chucked out all the staff who were on a break.carefully washed the blood from his hair to see the damage, taped a pad over it while filling in an accident book.She had one of the staff make me a cup of coffee while we waited for an ambulance.She gave me a bag with a new top for him, a new top for me as we were both covered in blood AND gave both DD's and DS a bar of chocolate to cheer them up.

I sent her a basket of flowers and chocolates as I had gone to peices when he did it.He had been told not to run and still havent worked out how he split the back of his head when he fell forwards.

The lovely tourists who found my wallet next to a park bench overlooking the sea in the town where I live (DS1 was little and I was very sleep deprived, I had given it to him to play with while I sat there drinking my large coffee, and he must have dropped it without me noticing), called the osteopath whose business card was in the wallet to get my phone number (they had my name from the bank cards), and then called me up and explained that they were going home that afternoon but had arranged for the wallet to be left at the B&B where they were staying. It really was above and beyond. The wallet was fairly empty, just had cards in it but very little cash, but has huge sentimental value for me.