'Toddlers can be jerks': Passenger's act of kindness goes viral

A passenger's act of kindness has goes viral. Photo / 123RF.

A frustrated woman has taken to Facebook to explain her random act of kindness in a bid to remind us all how important it can be.

A mother flying alone with three young children was the recipient of what the woman called "huffing and puffing and mumbling" when her two youngest started to get upset, news.com.au reported.

Kesha Bernard was on holiday with her children, boarding an early morning flight in Seattle when the airplane staff discovered weight issues. This meant that while the problem was being solved, everyone was stuck in a "full packed plane."

Bernard was sitting with her own two children, a 3- and a 4-year-old, when another woman's baby started crying. "Oh God forbid, right?" she said.

"Here I am on vacation away from my kids (who I absolutely love to death but sometimes you need a break from toddlers)...

Posted by Love What Matters on Monday, 31 July 2017

Then another child started crying. The toddler was having a "full blown meltdown over her seatbelt being on".

As Bernard pointed out, toddlers have the tendency to be a little dramatic.

Bernard admitted she was used to crying - she has "mum powers" so she can ignore it.

Apparently not everyone has the gift of selective hearing though because not a moment later a woman began complaining that the toddler needed to stop kicking her seat.

Bernard said the woman turned around and grabbed the toddler's leg.

"She's 3, I can't believe you just did that," the mother said to the woman.

"AKA 'oh hell no'," Bernard remarked.

Many parents will tell you that young children and flying can be a challenging combination, she said - "It takes a village to raise kids".

While all of this was happening, the flight attendant was apparently standing there just listening, not doing anything to defuse the situation.

The older man beside Bernard started making remarks like, "Obviously her way of disciplining isn't working."

Growing increasingly frustrated with everyone around her she put him in his place, "She's probably afraid to do anything ... you can't do anything anymore."

Bernard sat there for 15 minutes on a full plane waiting for someone close by to offer help. "I'm surrounded by caring adults, right? Wrong."

She turned around to see the mother with her three children - a screaming toddler, a crying baby and a very well-behaved older child. She also saw a grown woman holding her hands over her ears.

Apparently no one on this flight had heard of sympathy before.

"She was being so freaking calm you guys ... like I would have already been crying but she was doing so good."

So Bernard stood up and headed to the back of the plane to ask the lady if she needed help. The woman immediately handed her the baby.

She took the baby back to her seat for takeoff. "So I'm sitting here holding this precious baby that [just] so happens to fall asleep."

Bernard took a photo to share the moment as a lesson for us all.

"Be nice and considerate. If someone needs help for God's sake HELP THEM," she said. Complaining and mumbling does not do anything, "except make the person that needs help feel worse. Words hurt."

The message, which has over 96,000 likes and almost 10,000 shares, was concluded with: "How can we ignore a human in distress? Please be kind. Please be considerate. Help one another. It makes everything easier. I promise you won't die."