Do you what’s hard? Hearing a screaming baby when you’re stuck on a plane. Man is that annoying. But you know what’s 100 bajillion times harder? BEING THE MOM HOLDING THE SCREAMING BABY. In our latest episode of get over yourself, one mom has gone viral for venting her frustration when an entire flight of people chastised a struggling mother on a plane with her three children.
In a Facebook post that has been shared over 107,000 times, Kesha Bernard, a mom herself, writes about a mother alone with an older child, toddler, and baby on a flight that departed from Seattle at 5:45 a.m.
“So everyone is sitting in this full packed plane. And a baby starts crying (oh God forbid right?) Obviously I’m totally used to crying and whining so I tune it out. Everyone around me starts huffing and puffing and mumbling. Then……I hear 2 kids crying (holy s!#$ right?) this lady has her toddler having a full blown melt down over her seatbelt being on (toddlers are dramatic that’s nothing new) No problem…..I have mom powers and totally ignore it……BUT what I CANT ignore is this.”
Kesha then says, “I hear a woman complaining to this mother (that’s alone with 2 crying kids) that her child needs to stop kicking her seat. THEN I hear the mother say “She’s 3. I cant believe you just did that.” Apparently the lady reached behind her and grabbed the child’s leg.”
One mom. Three kids. At quarter to 6 in the morning. Yes, one was crying. Yes, another was kicking the seat in front of her. Um, you know what? I don’t care if she threw slime in your hair. You offer to help or turn around, shut up, and be thankful that in 2.5 hours, you’ll walk off that plane to your toddler-less life, probably hit Starbucks for a latte, and likely sleep the whole night through that night. That mom with the three kids? After this harrowing event, she’ll have to load those kids into a car, get the rest of the way to her destination, try to feed them meals at some point, change diapers, get them to sleep, and probably wake up three times during the night.
And that’s exactly how Kesha Bernard felt, sitting several aisles away. After noticing that other passengers were making faces and covering their ears (who is the actual 3-year-old?) as well as over the line the stranger grabbing this child’s leg, she got out of her seat and offered to help this mom.
“SO….being a decent human being I couldn’t take letting this mother drown back there….(and let me tell you she was being so freaking calm you guys….like I would have already been crying but she was doing so good) I get up out of my seat go a few rows back and go ask her if she needs help (apparently thats so hard to do) she immediately handed me her baby. So ya know I take her baby and then I have to go sit down for take off…….the crying stopped (it’s a miracle) so I’m sitting here holding this precious baby that so happens to fall asleep (swooooon).”
Look, the average person may not be willing to hold a stranger’s baby. (And the average mom may not be willing to hand her baby over to a stranger on a plane.) But the point is kindness. If you aren’t comfortable offering to help, that’s fine. But for the love of God don’t make it harder on this poor mother. Thankfully Kesha was willing to help as this mom clearly needed it. And then because of Kesha’s kindness the rest of the people on the plane were able to have the peaceful flight they felt they deserved. On behalf of Kesha, YOU’RE WELCOME.
Kesha closes her post by saying, “Please be kind. Please be considerate. Help one another…it makes everything easier. I promise you won’t die.” PREACH.
Thank you Kesha for reminding us all what it means to simply be kind. It looks like the world might need a refresher course now and then. And to the mom flying alone with three kids at 5:45 a.m., you’re amazing.