Words or acts of kindness that have stuck with you

A spin-off from the grudge thread, kind of...

I'm sure many of us have been influenced by words or acts of kindness (however trivial or everyday they may have seemed to the giver) over the course of our lives.

Have any stuck with you that'd you'd like to share?

During the infamous TP debacle during COVID there were articles about locals in the community supplying the elderly with care packages include TP and basic pantry essentials like pasta, sauce, milk etc After seeing so much greed and selfishness with stockpiling, it was heartwarming to see community spirit esp living in Sydney where it is in short supply.

I remember one and it does seem trivial now but was so very much appreciated at the time.

I had new twins and 2 older kids, I also had some health problems following the twins birth and was quite unwell/exhausted. It was Christmas and I hauled the kids to the shops to do all our gift shopping in one hit. We were finished and approached the elevator with the pram and arms loaded with bags and it was pretty full, but an older lady already on there pushed/shoved/ordered everyone to rearrange so we could fit in and when I thanked her she whispered to me "it's OK, my twins are in their 40's now".....such a small gesture but brightened my day in a way I won't forget.

I had DD at 20 so pretty young and inexperienced. One day when she was about 1.5 she was having a huge tantrum and I was carrying her rugby style. I’d walked maybe 500 metres with everyone looking at me (she was loud!) and was about to give in to her when an older lady looked at me and said ‘ keep at it, you’re doing great’ it wasn’t much but it was what I needed to hear

I had DD at 20 so pretty young and inexperienced. One day when she was about 1.5 she was having a huge tantrum and I was carrying her rugby style. I’d walked maybe 500 metres with everyone looking at me (she was loud!) and was about to give in to her when an older lady looked at me and said ‘ keep at it, you’re doing great’ it wasn’t much but it was what I needed to hear

I wish this was the norm rather than the exception! I had an incident where I was abused by an older lady and told to control my then 1 year old who was chucking a tanty!

DD1 was nearly five and was having a massive, stinking meltdown in Woollies (the only one of that magnitude she ever had, thank God). I did my best to appear calm and just let her cry it out (flopping all over the floor wailing her head off, bloody hell... I wanted that floor to open up and swallow me).

Another woman walked past with her basket, leaned in and whispered, "You're doing great, Mum. You got this."

I could've kissed her.

Short version, I was shopping with a newly minted child and 2 other under 5. Pushing pram and trying to do months shop at our local shop while extremely depressed . One of the wonderful women there saw how i was struggling and arranged for one of the staff to walk around with me pushing the trolley and to help me the whole way through including packing it into the car. She was a lifesaver, and it was over 7 years ago now and i am still so grateful.

I had ds overseas and my brother died back in Australia when ds was 8 weeks old, the day after I found out out was ds first post natal baby group and I was feeling lost so made myself go and 3 people that day helped me in small ways (to them probably) without knowing and it will always stay with me

We were travelling with DS1 who was 6 months old so I could attend some conferences to present my research, and our Paris- Washington flight was cancelled. While waiting in line for accommodation to be arranged, we got chatting with a young American woman. The next day when we were lining up for our rescheduled flight, she was behind us again and we chatted a bit more. Her mother was a midwife so we chatted about babies, and her travel plans etc. DS was a reasonably good traveller but obviously long flights with babies are always pretty exhausting. A couple of hours into the flight, she came down the aisle and offered to take baby DS for a cuddle so we could have a break. I was a bit of an overprotective first time mother but figured she couldn't really kidnap him on a plane, so off she went with him. About 45 minutes later she brought him back ASLEEP!!! I could have kissed her. I tried to find her when we were disembarking and at baggage claim but she disappeared before I could thank her properly. But it's 13 years later and I still remember her kindness.

I was out shopping when I was about 5 months pregnant with DS (my first) when I felt light-headed and dizzy and needed to lie down. The manager called an ambulance, and I was taken to hospital to get checked out - I was okay, so was bub, I just had low blood pressure.

I forgot all about my shopping trolley. The next day the manager called me up to say if I still wanted to collect my shopping, it was all bagged and ready for me. When I got there, ready to pay for it, I was told it had been paid for and it was mine to take. It was a nearly full trolley load so I was completely overwhelmed by the kindness of whoever had (anonymously) paid for it.

I had a lot of friends online as a teenager. I was kind of the person holding the group together, and we achieved a lot. For my birthday they surprised me with some beautiful messages and pressies. Still wish I had taken a screenshot and kept it.

For my first mother's day a friend sent me a beautiful card and flowers on behalf of my 6 month old baby. She also threw me the most amazing baby shower. It was even more special because we've only been friends about 2 years and she did more for me than anyone in my family.

When bub was born a little early and in SCN, needing oxygen and cannulas and all that jazz, it was pretty overwhelming

especially as first-timers. Bub was somehow really good at pulling the cannulas out, so unfortunately had to have them reinserted several times. They take the babies into a private room, no parents allowed, as it can be traumatic I guess, and they don't want to mess it up.

There was a SCN nurse who firmly insisted on being at every one of bub's reinsertions, to hold his hand and care for him during it as she wanted to make sure he was ok. Even thinking of it now, I am in tears at how kind it was of her, to show him love and care and to be there for him when we couldn't be.

She was happy to be there when he was discharged, and cried which made Mum and I cry too.

Bless you, Lxxxxxxx, you were a legend of a nurse. Thank you x

My son was two and a half and I had a baby. We had a four hour drive to visit my parents and within fifteen minutes of leaving home my toddler started screaming in the car, until he had to inhale and start screaming again. Over and over. I stopped at a park after an hour and a half and let him run around a park. But it wasn’t pram friendly so I was carrying DS2 and I couldn’t catch him or lift him with my hands full. Another lady helped him over and over. I let him run for 45 minutes hoping the screaming would stop but alas within five minutes he started again.

The lady from the park had no idea what was going on but helped anyway.

Also I have had amazing help from people when I have list my kids.

I'd been effectively gaslit by many many medical professionals for a really long time who told me I was imagining DS's symptoms and I was just anxious blah blah blah. Then there'd been a steady stream of "why didn't you...", "don't do that...", "you must do this..." etc and I had no confidence as a mother. I went from questioning whether I had Munchausen by proxy to thinking I was neglectful. That any other person would have been a better parent for DS.

Then one day his OT said something like: "you're his best therapist."

And instantaneously, I felt like lining up the medical people and screaming "DID YOU HEAR THAT?!?! I'M DOING SOMETHING RIGHT!"

Oh goodness, how did I forget this?

When DD1 was in FYOS, we moved house in mid-December - bought our very first own place. DH got really, really sick that day and was admitted to hospital (he was in there like four days). Our plans to move house then go to the school concert to see DD1 in action that day were really very, very foiled.

FIL had taken DH to Emergency. When I got there with DD1 and she realised we weren't going to make it to the school concert, she was so very upset, poor little kid. FIL offered to take her (MIL already had DD2 and was on route, different pickups) then look after them for the night, then realised that he'd come in the ute, which had no child seat, and so he couldn't.

The woman with the busted foot next to us in Emergency must have been listening, because she offered to lend us her child seat for the night. So DD1 went to the concert and performed, FIL watched and took photos, and then he took the seat back around to this wonderful woman the next day.

I was at the pool with DS who was not listening. Every time he did something wrong I would make him sit out of the pool for a certain period of time. A woman came up to me and told me she was so impressed by what I was doing and she wished she had been on to her child’s behaviour earlier.

DS now has an ADHD diagnosis and I have plenty of moments where I blame myself for his behaviour, but stuff like this reminds me I have always been on top of his behaviour, consistent with what I do, have consequences etc. so a bigger issue than just parenting.

My DH had a serious motorbike accident at a track about 45 minutes away from home. A total stranger loaded his stuff into his Ute, drove it to our house locked it in the backyard and left the keys in the mailbox. I found it like that when I got home from the hospital the next day. Couldn’t even say thank you.