The people you briefly love when you have children.

[Psammead]

Because they make your or your children's day.

I was thinking about this today when DD was waving madly at a bus driving by, and a woman waved back. Thank-you, woman. DD was very happy.

So.

1. People who wave from busses/trains etc
2. People in shops who give your children something free (balloons, slice of luncheon meat, bit of deformed criossant etc)
3. People who smile/wave/make funny faces/chat to your child in a queue, or on a bus, train, plane etc.

You are all brilliant human beings. Add to the list!

Winter before last when we had all the snow, I was walking DD to nursery, DS (3m) in baby carrier as too much frozen rutted snow for pram. DD was sliding everywhere, kept slipping over and was miserable. It was taking us ages. A lovely mum who had just dropped her kids at school took DDs other hand to steady her and chatted to her about nursery and how her little boy used to go there, what she would do today, until we got to her gate (almost at the main road where the path was cleared). Meant so much to me as it really sped us up, and distracted DD from hating the snow.

DD is at the same school as her sons now, and when I see her at the gates I always give her a big smile. (SHe probably doesn't remember and thinks I am a loon)

I loved an elderly gentleman at a bus stop once. DS2 was going through Precocious Questioning Stage and I had had enough of it - every minute of every day it felt like I was being asked some challenging philosophical question. Anyway - DS2 said "Where does the wind start from?" and the old man said "What an interesting question! Shall I try to explain?". And then they chatted - carried on chatting on the bus - and I had a few minutes of peace in which I worked out that actually, I should be bloody grateful for my inquisitive child.

notcitrus, I am laughing and slightly repelled at the same time about the giant salmon glove puppet story.

The traffic warden who saw us hurrying to the car with a limping, bloody-kneed DD, and who turned his back and studied the wall for a good five minutes to give us time to get there.

issynoko
Your post made me cry. How lovely to have your Mum's voice in your head like that.

The slightly tipsy but merry scottish tourist who struck up a conversation with us walking through the park. He was very jolly and funny, and kept calling BS 'Big man' and showed him 'the moves' to a secret scottish handshake. He had me in stitches - I had forgotten how childish the glaswegian sense of humour can be.

Not so, the old boot who stood and watched her pony dog to leap up on DS, then stopped, looked us up and down, then obviously decoided that we were all together and a bunch of drunken scots, therefore not requiring an apology.

This thread has made me cry but also reassurred me that most people like it when I wave or smile at their child.

I have lots but the best one was when DS was 2 and having a huge strop in the M&S cafe. Everyone including other mothers glared and tutted apart from a lovely old lady who opened the door for me as I was leaving in an embarrassed fluster and said "They all do it, don't worry dear". She made me feel SO much better.

Also when I was a young nanny in London, the lovely man who helped me get the buggy onto the bus and didn't complain when he ended up with mud on his suit.

and the bin men who looked out for DS and waved to him every week for two years

Love the one about the giant fish puppet too...and the nice traffic warden deserves a place in heaven for that...

And another one. Our fabulous DJ at our 40th who remembered our kids were coming, and brought special records for them (batman theme tune etc) which he insisted on playing, got them mixing on the decks, danced with them for over an hour before the proper guests were drunk enough to dance, bought bubble guns & glitter, and then stopped the music early to present ds with a 'dancer of the night' award to huge appause. He SO treasures that memory! (If anyone wants a fab DJ in SW London/Surrey, pm me!!)

'The gardener at Chatsworth who let ds(then 5) turn off the enormous fountain.'

I was going to say 'I would have found that utterly thrilling at 5', but on reflection I realise I would still find it utterly thrilling now, in my late mid 30s.

Lovely thread.

There are some lovely people out there after all!

Mine are:

The lovely staff in Sainsburys who calmly mopped up DD's vomit when she suddenly and unexplainedly began to puke everywhere in the fruit aisle. One held DS for me(trolley was covered in vomit) while I mopped up DD and another unlucky staff member cleared up the mess while I apologised constantly and they insisted it was no bother.

Anyone in any kid friendly job (firefighters, postmen, police officers) who wave back when DD and now DS, wave at them.

People who help lift the buggy up and down stairs and on and off trains.

The lovely man in the very expensive looking suit who held our massive, bright pink suitcase for me while I held tight the buggy on the underground escalator at Paddington Station during Monday morning rush hour. I'd have been lost without him.

The lovely pre school teacher at DD's nursery who drags her off me and has seen more of my fat tummy and huge boobs than she probably wanted to doing so. Never feel like she bitches about it behind my back.

Charlotte and Jasmine, 2 older girls we no longer see who always made a point of letting DD play with them and let her feel like a big girl. I really couldn't be happier that my little girl idolises you both- if she grows up to be as nice and kind as either of you I'll be a happy mum.

Anyone who tells me how wonderful my children are. I know they are but it's always nice when other people appreciate them too.

Lovely thread!
Thankyou to the young man that managed to convince Ds,then 3 to stop running(Ds has Aspergers&ADHD). Ds had got frightened in the park & took off straight towards a very busy road...i was running after him leaving my then 7yr old with 6month old baby by the swings!The man convinced him to stop by bribing Ds with the promise of playing a game on his mobile.

Thankyou-you will never know the relief i felt when i saw you walking towards me with Ds behaving like norhing had happened!!

To all the mumsnetters who have put up with me as I struggle through the hardest job in the world.

To the mums at our new school who have wlecomed me and made me feel like my kdis really are normal kids and doing well.

To the children at my children's school who have welcomed my children and especially those in DD's class who cheer when she gets another merit badge as she has over taken all but one child in the class and she has been there a lot less time than them.

The older lady that I see around the village. She stopped me the other day and said 'my husband had spotted you walking past the house and mentioned you were out and about again. We both agreed how nice it was to see children walking instead of being ferried around all the time. That and you two are always singing! (DD1 is 2.8 DD2 is 0.7) Bet you can't wait for that one to join in! You're doing a grand job, love.'
I had to wait for her to carry on a bit before crying!

The young man who works at my local Costa Coffee who always carries trays for people with prams. If I am meetingva group of ladies and babies the look on his face always says 'please don't let there be boobs.'

Practically every passenger on the Metro system in Barcelona. Seriously. Every time we stepped on with our dds (then 5 and 2), there would always be someone - usually more than one person - who immediately began pulling faces, smiling, singing a song and generally being delightful to them.

I still remember how confused they looked, back in London, when we got onto the Tube, waiting in vain for the show to start.

The Irish poet Pat Ingoldsby, who spent ages chatting to my dds when we met him in Dublin, and was exactly on their wavelength (he used to be a kids' TV presenter). He clocked the Ed Sheeran poster that teenage dd1 was carrying and called us "the A Team" as we were saying goodbye. Made her day .

Oh - and the lovely, lovely lady in the cafe, where dh and I stopped for a coffee on the way back from our very first antenatal appointment, where we'd heard dd1's heartbeat for the first time. Dh had gone for the coffees and I was sitting at the table feeling all glowy. Elderly lady at neighbouring table looked over at me, glanced down at the yellow PREGNANCY NOTES folder sitting on the table in front of me, and then smiled at me like an angel. I'll never forget it.

The man who helped me when I was boarding a plane with DD then 4 throwing a massive tantrum that I wouldn't buy her a fucking Bratz doll at the airport. He was suddenly in amongst us, distracting and charming her and giving me a lovely smile. Then strode off leaving very strong fumes of whisky behind him. It was 9 am .

ooh - it's made Classics!

Just thought of another one - the kind immigration (yes I know) people who waved our family to the front of the long queue at Christchurch airport (at that stage the DCs were 3, 3 and 17 months!) after a long trip from the UK - they probably saw how stressed we were.....and many other travel-related ones involving that same trip.

Also the duty teacher at DS's school who picked up his phone when he lost it last week at the school train station and returned it to the school office. We thought it was gone forever.

The assistant in the M&S changing room who when I had the double whammy of unexpected period and breastmilk leaking, found me an entire outfit which would fit and didn't make me look like a heffer, handed me a sanitary towel and accompanied me and the DC to the till with the tags afterwards so we could skip the queue and pay quickly. She made an entirely horrendous experience seem like nothing at all.

The crew member on a return ferry trip one time. I sat in the kids area on the way there, groups of older/childless people then came and say tutting the whole way as I was trying to amuse a very tired 18mo DD. on the way back the guy was stood at the entrance to the kids area directing those without kids to sit elsewhere. Meant all those with little ones could sit in the kids area and the kids all played together. Much better trip!