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?

this thread just makes me want to go out and do good things for people

betachimp, while I was reading that I was hoping you ended up marrying him! Thanks for not disappointing me!

I was once caught in a tropical storm in Vietnam (think of having buckets of water being thrown at you) and there were no taxis to be had. I took shelter under the awning of a shop and resolved to wait.

A young boy who worked there saw me and invited me in to wait there. All the staff seemed to be about 16-18 years old and the shop sold nothing but hairdryers (very apt) and footspas.

After a couple of minutes a taxi stopped outside and they all indicated I should get in it. I showed the taxi driver the card for the hotel I was staying in and he drove me to literally the other side of the city.

When I got out and tried to pay he refused. The kids in the shop had called the cab and paid my fare.

I tried to go back the next day to thank them but I couldn't find the shop again.

Lovely people.

Going into travel agents to buy my holiday money a few years ago (just before change to Euros) a chappy just leaving handed me a handful of pesetas and said here you have these I can't use them. Think there was about £20. How lovely :)

the FOURTEEN people who stopped to offer help as I stood by the side of a country road with my three dcs in the rain when our car broke down.

Years ago I miscarried our first child. I and my now ex dp got a bus from the hospital - it was a five mile or so ride to the centre of town and then we would have had to get off and walk or taxi fifteen minutes home. We just sat in numb silence with tears rolling down our faces. When the bus arrived in the centre the driver asked us where we lived and without another word closed the door of the bus and drove us to our door. Even now it makes me tearful to think of his kindness

I actually think people can often be wonderful when something goes wrong. I recently saw a lady collapse in the street and had to call the ambulance for her. We were deluged with cars stopping and offering help. Her neighbours coming and taking her (empty) shopping trolley home for her and trying to contact her husband. I was forced to help as she collapsed in front of us but was amazing how prepared many people were to help.

When I was 5 months pregnant I was admitted into hospital for a week with a bowel obstruction. My consultant, Mr Duncan (chelsea and westminster hospital) came to see how I was on the Saturday morning. It was his day off work. I was so touched by his kindnes.

During a particular year, I passed out 4 times on the train. Each time, kind people carried me off the train. One lady insisted she had to walk me home to make sure I got back ok.

One kind young man who was visiting his mother helped me from outside kings cross. He carried my numerous bags whilst I pushed the buggy containing my son. He waited for me to print my tickets, find the platform and then even boarded the train to help with the luggage. I was so moved by his kindness. God bless him where ever he is.

Love love love this thread

I love the Great Mummy Network - where one mum sees another having One of Those Moments and lends a hand.

I commute and was recently travelling home just before New Year and there was a very whiny little girl on the train with her mum. Other passengers were eyerolling. I popped over to ask if the little girl would like some chocolate buttons (emergency stash kept in handbag along with party size bubbles for DD!). It turned out the little girl was BURSTING for a wee poor kid - but the mum had big cases for them both, and didn't know that there was a toilet on the train. I explained where it was and said I'd stay with the cases till they came back. The little girl was a changed child, the mum was equally relieved and she thanked me.

I said it was nice to repay a Mummy favour as 2 weeks previously another mum had helped me mop up an exploding poo situation in the swimming pool changing room and was SO nice to me when I was all flustered and really needed another pair of hands!

When DS was about 2 weeks old I was doing an emergency shop and was in that phase of just exhaustion. As I got him out of the car, a woman just stopped and said "WOW, he's SO gorgeous!" and I thought "Yes, he is" and it totally made my day.

Also, the group of newly released prisoners who escorted my friend and I off the Greyhound in NYC when we were 19 - saying "it's a rough area, we should know!"

In my nearly 40 years I have never had an act of random kindness bestowed upon me.

& that makes me sad - I clearly look evil or unapproachable - I have asked for help & it has been given, gladly, but I always have to ask.

& I always offer help, be it with bags, doors, change, letting people in the queue in front of me, shelf reaching, prams, I gave my chuffing lighter to a homeless bloke yesterday because I walking past & he was having trouble lighting his fag.

I don't beg for random acts of kindness. But they would be nice.

My old US colleagues who threw a surprise baby shower for me when I was expecting DD1 and very impoverished, and miles from home and relatives. They bought many essential items that I continued to use for four subsequent babies. We had a great afternoon party; people had baked all sorts of nice goodies -- people's mothers had baked all sorts of nice goodies, some had crocheted and knitted baby items for weeks. I remember them all very fondly.

Lovely, lovely people in uniform who directed me through Heathrow all the way from International Arrivals to Aer Lingus departures (a long old hike) when I was en route from another US city via NY and London to Dublin after my dad had a stroke, with 4 yo DD and 1 yo DS in tow and baggage enough for a month for us all. Especial thanks to the man who found an out of the way lift so I didn't have to choose between the children and the luggage on the escalator at one particularly fraught point.

A mum from a group I see occasionally for a night at someone's house to chat and relax who made me a cup of tea a good few years ago when the awful reality of life with exH was well and truly kicking in. I hadn't confided any of my troubles to her or to anyone else at that point but she offered to make me some tea and got together a tray, nice china, little jug of milk, and spoons to stir. It was the only kind thing anyone had done for me for ages.

My wonderful relatives who supported me in every way imaginable, and the DCs too, in the aftermath of my separation from exH.

Read this thread from beginning to end there really are some lovely people in the world.

I've had a few people give me their finished with car park tickets and when we had to rush DS to a&e last weekend someone gave DH change because he didn't have enough.

A few years ago I fell off my bike in front of a couple of 13-14 year old lads who, to my eternal gratitude, didn't laugh (at least not in front of me) and crossed over to my side of the road to find out if I was ok. Fortunately the only thing that was hurt was my pride. Actually I've found teenage boys to generally be lovely for little things like holding doors open for me and the pram and picking things up off the floor that DS has thrown. Also if I have to go into uni with DS in tow they let me go in front of them for the lift.

I worked briefly as a hospital domestic and always tried to do a bit extra. When I was getting lunch orders one day an elderly lady asked if she could have a sausage sandwich. I said I didn't know because it wasn't on the menu but I'd see. I managed to get a couple of sausages from the canteen and made her up the sandwich. When I gave it to her she was so happy and the lady in the bed next to her called me to one side and thanked me profusely because she'd been asking for days for one. Really made my day but I was gutted for her because after all that she couldn't really chew so had to leave most of it. Still I like to think it at least brightened her day a bit.

Oh and something that happened to my parents though the helper in question was one of their best friends, not a stranger. DF had been made redundant and they were really struggling money wise when the freezer broke DF had tried to defrost it and buggered it up. To try and save what little food was in there they asked the friend if they could store it at hers. When they managed to get a working freezer again the friend brought the food back but she'd filled the bags to overflowing with extra stuff for them. My mum tried to give her money but she denied she'd even put anything in the bags. Bless her.

when my DD was about 6 we were on the way back from a party and the red balloon she was clutching sailed away and was driven over by a group of young lads in a car. She was wailing and crying as i had tried to get it back but then they squashed it. They drove round the roundabout to come back and wound down the window and were so apologetic! They looked mortified and it was so kind! My DD was distracted and was fine. So nice of them.

Also this summer in the pub carpark with 3 kids about to have lunch and no money for the carpark....a lovely guy gave me 2 quid and refused to let me pay him back...so nice of him. Tried to find him to give him the money after we'd had lunch but he'd gone.

And as a child on the underground, a guy saw me eyeballing his fruit pastilles and passed me 1 as he got off the train!

And all the people who gave up their seats on the train when I was pg, helped me when I faint and help me with luggage, buggies etc. There are some lovely Londoners out there. Great thread that keeps making me cry!!

When my son was 15 he was on a train to London with a group of friends and he found a really expensive phone - much, much nicer than the crappy one he had. He could have kept it, got it unlocked etc, but he found the owner's number on the records and phoned him to tell him he was going to hand it in at lost property when he arrived in London. The man asked him for his name and phone number, which he gave.

A couple of days later we got a call from the man asking for our address, and he turned up on the doorstep from about 40 miles away and gave my son £50! We said 'that's too generous and completely unexpected, not necessary etc, etc,' and he said 'No, he absolutely must have it - this is a £300 phone and my life is on it, so it's not only about the phone's value but the inconvenience to me of losing my sim card and all the details would have been huge. Most kids would have kept it or sold it, but your son was honest.'

Ok, I appreciate that that story was not a random act of kindness as such, but it was two acts, both kind!

When i travelled between New Zealand and Uk last year with DD1 (3) and DD2 (5 months) I had so many acts of kindness. DD1 managed to go 22 hours without sleeping over the first leg, and was in a merry old mood by the time I got to Singapore. I had DD2 strapped to my front, a load of hand luggage falling off the tiny trolley and DD1 rolling around the floor of the airport. An American man came over to me and basically picked DD1 up and carried her into the transit hotel for me. I had been on the verge of breakdown by that point.

Also had people helping me lift my bags off the conveyor belt, take DD2 for cuddles on the plane so I could get organised and so many people told me they admired me for undertaking such a trip with no other adult, which gave me a boost.

No way am I ever doing it again though!

We were camping in the South of France and whilst we were lying on the beach, our car was broken into and everything - money, passports, traveller's cheques - was stolen. We didn't even have enough diesel in the tank to get back to the camp site. It was out of hours, we were stuck. No mobiles in them days.

We went to the police station, joined the queue (and there saw all the posters warning people about seasonal thieves! None in the actual town) to report our crime.

I started talking to the people behind us and we started swapping stories. When they heard our dilemma, when they left, they stuck a FF20 in my hand and refused to give their names and address. 20 francs was a lot in those days. It got us back to the camp site and back in the next day, to deal with NatWest and then to Nice where we could pick up money via bank transfer.

Whoever you were you Northern couple, you showed the best of British and I just want to tell you that I thank you by trying to pass it on. You really, really saved us that day.

I've had a similar supermarket experience to you OP, although it was en elderly who winked at me and said 'Well done' when I'd finally manage to calm DD down!

Last weekend I left my car keys in the door and a couple of teenage boys knocked the door at about 8pm to let me know!

Thought of a couple more.

When I was at uni and driving home, got a flat tyre and a car full of lads pulled up, I thought they were going to take the mickey as I may have cut them up just prior to having had to pull over and changed the tyre and waved me off.

When DH and I were in Turkey on holiday and I was about 8 weeks pregnant. Had a wave of nausea and was violently sick outside a gifty type shop on the main strip. I was embarrassed but literally couldnt get up for all the dry heaving afterwards so ended up sort of prostrate in my sick. The man whose shop it was came out and I thought he would be cross, thinking it was just Brits abroad and unable to hold their booze. But he just waved us into the shop and to a toilet so I could clear myself up. He also got me a bottle of water from the shop next door.

I made DH take his t-shirt off for me to wear and then sent him outside to clear up the sick which was outside the shop and probably preventing people from coming in. It had already been taken care of. Then the owner got a taxi to drive right up and take us to the hotel. It was so kind. We went back the next day and spent lots of money in his shop!

8 months pregnant, one of the hottest weekends ever in August, with a 2 year old in the back and the car broke down. We're over 200 miles from home.

I call the AA. "I'm sorry but you didn't renew in June." Yikes!

Then woman on the phone said, but I'm sure you meant to, I'll send someone out.

The chap who comes, says - clutch is gone, there's nothing I can do at roadside and your membership is just for roadside.

Then he walks a little way away and gets on his phone.... comes back and says - it's ok I'll take you home...

200+ miles he towed us!

When I had stopped at the side of the road with a flat tyre just trying to work out how to fix the jack. A young man stopped, asked if I wanted him to change the tyre and then quickly changed it in about 5 minutes.

I got a note through the door - a man had found my debit card on the floor by the cashpoint - I hadn't noticed it had gone! He had looked up my address in the phone book and promptly dropped it round my house. He said he hadn't returned it to the bank as he knew how long it would cause problems for me with the delay in reissuing it.

Went to buy some food in ASDA and when it went through the checkout I realised I didn't have enough money and needed to return something. The woman insisted I take it all and not to worry about the money. The thing is it wasn't like it was essentials like nappies and milk - it was nice food!

Went to a cafe and ordered a coffee and then realised I didn't have any money. I apologised profusely and said I had to nip out to the cashpoint. The woman insisted I had the drink first and then come back and pay afterwards.

I once took a different way home and somehow managed to cross a road at a different point, by the time I realized I'd gone wrong I tried to retrace my steps but couldn't seem to find exactly where I'd crossed over. The area I lived in at the time was like a rabbit warren and once you get lost in there it was a nightmare. Anyway I didn't have a gps back then so I frantically wandered around the area in the hope I would make it back to the main road where I would know where I was. Eventually a woman came out of her house and I asked for directions back to the main road, she asked where I was going and said "Oh I'm going there anyway, jump in the car and I'll drive you." She didn't even have issue with putting the guide dog in the car. I was very grateful but a bit as I very rarely get lost.

The driver who stopped his car on one side of the road and waved down the traffic on my side so I could cross over.

After just having moved here I went into the bakery/cafe to get some rolls but me and ds stopped for a drink and a cake. When she said how much I offered my card and she said that they only take cash. As I didn't have any cash I said to ds that we'd come back another day instead, she said "Oh, you look honest, just pay next time you're in." I went in the next morning and paid.