The nicest thing another mother has done

[Aglassaday]

To add a bit of positivity in this world, what’s the nicest thing another mother has ever done for you, for your DC, for a strangers DC etc.

Pretended that their babies didn't sleep through! DS (now 13) used to have me up in excess of 10 times per night, I was utterly beside myself with tiredness (and very likely undiagnosed PND). I was very close to two other Mum's on maternity leave, their babies both slept beautifully, but they never told me, they just kept on with 'we know how you feel/we're all in it together/let's try this and that and we'll get there in the end.' It was actually really lovely, it made me feel like I wasn't alone and it wasn't just me, bless them.

I'd taken my toddler (2) to a café after a final family court hearing in which my abusive ex-husband has been awarded majority custody of my two sons. Devastated was not the word. I was destroyed. I'd just gone to get out of the house and contemplate my "options" moving forward.
A lady (complete stranger) walked over and said "I you don't mind me saying so, but to watch you with your little girl is so wonderful; what an incredible mummy she has!"
That lady saved my life that afternoon.
I just wish she knew it ❤️

Once when I was camping on my own and ds was about one he was crying and vomiting all night all over the tent. The lady camping 'next door' came over with a blanket and asked if I was ok and in the morning came over with a brew and sympathy. Which was bloody lovely because I'm sure we had kept her up all night.

I twisted my ankle badly whilst living abroad for a year with my toddler, and a mum I had met at a toddler group drove 45 minutes to my house with her son, in order to watch my son in my home for 3 hours whilst I went to the hospital to get it checked. As it was late afternoon she had to scrabble around in my cupboards to feed the kids too. What a lifesaver she was, so selfless and made it seem like no big deal.

@TokyoSushi ahhhh will defo keep this one in mind in future if I do get blessed with a good sleeper!

@LorlieS So sorry you did not deserve to be in that situation 😕.
I hope things are better for you,
I can tell just from here you are an amazing mother so don’t let any unwanted situations prove you otherwise

@winewolfhowls that must’ve been the best brew of your life

@Statsinyoureyes Awww that is such a bitter sweet story

I was breastfeeding my son in a train station on the hottest day of the year last summer and a woman bought me a bottle of cold water from the shop. She said she remembered what thirsty work breastfeeding is. I just thought it was the loveliest gesture!

Said “oh for goodness’ sake, don’t worry about it” as I tried to apologise after one of my children projectile vomitted over one of hers during a Carol concert at our Cathedral. She meant it, too.

A lovely mum went and got me a hot chocolate whilst I was sat on a bench in tears after another really difficult morning with my dd ( 5, asd) and ds ( 3, suspected asd). She was so lovely and really made me feel better. Another mum at my dd swim class brings a bag of toys every week for all the little ones to play with whilst their siblings swim just to help distract them.

While at the hospital a few years ago,my DD was 1 month at the time, crying to be fed. My DS was 13 months and he was screaming and crying because he had to have bloods done. I honestly wanted to cry at that point. A lady walked over asked where her bottle was and fed her so I could calm my son down.

When DS was in Yr1 and all of the boys in his class were starting football club at school and he couldn't as he went to the childminder's that day. A mum I didn't really know came up to me at a birthday party, asked if the only reason DS didn't go to football was due to childcare arrangements as she was happy to pick him up from football and drop him at the childminder's. She did that for the next two years! I always got her flowers or wine at the end of each term and often had her son over during the holidays.

Lent me her coat this evening when I bled through my jeans!

My youngest was having a screaming throw yourself on the floor tantrum in the playground at pick up time. I had carried her in but had to put her down as she was so heavy and she continued.
One mum I kind of knew came and stood with me in sympathy (she just gave me a kind look and nod of acknowledgement) and when another woman asked if anyone knew who's child it was said yes and not to worry as she was fine and being looked after. (Bearing in mind child was directly in front of us rolling around).
As soon as the sibling arrived, youngest jumped up as if nothing had happened!
I was so embarrassed and tired, and youngest was fine just grumpy. She just made me feel like I wasn't useless. There was a solidarity in her kindness.

A random lady at a pub rocked our baby twins for us after she saw us trying to eat a roast dinner and having difficulty lol. So kind of her and haven't forgotten it... it really does take a village <3

Not me but my friend (who is 20 years older than me).

Her horrible (now ex) husband had just left her and her 1 year old son. She was working FT as a nurse and was struggling to manage single motherhood, was so confused by everything that had happened. She had always been a keen churchgoer and was in Sunday mass with her little boy, and became very overwhelmed and was crying (the baby was also crying). An older lady (the vicar's wife) came over to her, took her little boy from her and made him laugh, before handing him to her own 12 year old daughter and teenage son and told them to take him to the kid's area and play with him. She sat down with my friend, talked to her, pointed her in the direction of the mum and baby support group and told her she could come round whenever she wanted. They became firm friends.

That older lady was my grandmother. The 12 year old was my mum.
My friend was fine. She raised her child healthy and happy, without his father messing things up, and has since remarried.

After 25 years in nursing, she became a vicar. And she took my 91 year old gran's funeral this May.

She is now sat in my living room, one mother to another, supporting me through grief.

Pay it forward.

Looked after my 9 month old for a whole afternoon/evening while I rushed to the hospital to say goodbye to my beloved uncle, then wouldn't let me go home to sit in an empty house when I got back home (DP was away and trying desperately to get back) even though her parents-in-law had arrived.

Gave me a vest, nappy and some wipes for my baby who had just had a poonami in a garden centre and I’d forgotten the change bag. Never met her before or since.

A complete stranger bought us an entire weeks worth of groceries after a hurricane knocked our power out for over 2 weeks. The food in the fridge spoiled and I asked for what to do on a Facebook group for mothers as the local food bank was completely drained and we had no money. I only asked for cheap things like bread, tuna and baby food. But she got us way more than I could have ever hoped for line breakfast bars, muffins, chips, juice and other snacks that didn't require refrigeration as the power was still out. When she showed up with all that food I cried.