14 Kids Whose Acts of Love and Empathy Deserve Recognition This Week (May 18–25 Edition)

A pregnant woman stood next to my 7yo’s seat on a packed bus. He didn’t move. An 80-year-old man across rolled his eyes and gave his seat to her. Then he turned to me: “You should be ashamed of letting him sit there!!” All went quiet as my son stood up, saying, “My grandma gets on next stop. She can’t stand.” The doors opened. My 82-year-old mother stepped on with a walker. My son jumped up and guided her into the seat he’d been guarding. The old man watched. Then he took off his hat and whispered to me, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was waiting for someone who needed it more.”

We were out running errands all morning, and we stopped at Wawa to grab a couple of things and gas. On the way out, we saw a man sitting on the curb with a sign that said, “Please help, I’m broke.” She looks at me and says, “Oh my God, Mom, we have to help him. I want to give him my allowance, Mom. I have $20.” I told her I’d get some change, so in case you wanted to only give him 10 or something, we would have the proper amount. I got back in the car, I gave her the change, and then I realized I should have gotten the man some food, so I went to the Wendy’s next door, got a burger and a bottle of water, and we proceeded to go back. We parked, and my daughter says, “I want to give it to him, Mom.” (She’s 8.) I said okay, but I’m going to come with you. She goes over to the man, I’m right behind her, gives him all $20 of her allowance, a Luna Lovegood figurine from Harry Potter, which she is obsessed with, the burger, and the water, and says, “I hope this makes your day better.” I could not have been prouder and in awe of anyone more than I had been with her at that moment. The empathy and compassion in this child are just awe-inspiring!

Me and my son, when he was 6, were driving home from the grocery store. It was hot that day, and I bought ice cream, and I needed to get home fast. Well, out of nowhere, a police, with lights flashing pulls me over. The police officer looked hot and tired, and my little son pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to the cop, and asked him if he wanted to sit in the cool car. The office just smiled and told me to slow down. Not the least, a small act of kindness goes a long way.

I had a headache when I got home from work yesterday and told my kids that loud sounds were hurting me. One of my twins (who has been testing our patience recently) quietly walked away and then came back a minute later with her hearing protection earmuffs and a hug. Literally made me sob.

I went away to school at 19, my brother was 12 at the time. I went to a media arts school where I was learning how to make digital art for video games. When my baby bro found this out, he thought it was super cool, but my grandmother was threatening to “disown me” for “wasting money on something useless” and would say that if I didn’t come home immediately, I was dead to her. My little brother was with her when she started going off about me again, and he stood up for me. According to mom, he pointed out that I graduated from high school with honors and an Associate Degree from the dual enrollment program, and if doing well in school and following my dreams was worth being disowned over, then he hopes he does well enough in life that she disowns him, too.
My grandmother was the person that everyone in the family seemed to revolve around and wouldn’t dare disobey, even if they didn’t agree with her, and the fact that he stood up to her for my sake made me feel super proud, and I know Mom feels the same.

Our son was about 15 years old at the time. My MIL treated him badly his whole life for some unknown reason. For example, “Oh, this is a birthday party... if I had known, I would have bought a present” (even though the invite says BIRTHDAY PARTY!) He had long hair (only girls wear long hair), etc.
We didn’t see her for years. She has a heart attack and is not expected to live much longer. We rush to the hospital to see her. Our son went in and held her hand for 2 hours, rubbed her arm and head, talked softly to her, and tried to comfort her while she was in the emergency. We always knew he was a good kid. This was the kicker.

I was told that my aunt will pass this morning. She held me, told me not to cry, and that her love would make me feel better. She is 4 years old. The unconditional love and empathy that she has shown make me feel like I’m making a better person than I am.

My sister-in-law, Brenda, loves dropping passive-aggressive hints that I’m a bad mother. At my son Noah’s 10th birthday party, she handed him a book titled Etiquette and Manners for Impolite Children in front of all the guests. I was seething.
Noah opened it, read the title, and immediately asked for a pen. Right there, he wrote a glowing inscription on the inside cover and handed it back to Brenda. He said, “Aunt Brenda, thank you for showing me this book exists. It shows me exactly how not to act when people visit. It’s the best lesson I’ve ever had.” Brenda turned bright red and stayed quiet for the rest of the day.

A girl in my son’s class became very ill. All the other kids backed away screaming, and my little 12-year-old boy held her hair and comforted her while yelling at the others, “Don’t just stand there, go get help! What’s wrong with you?!” until finally someone did. He rubbed her back, got her a tissue, gave her his water bottle, the whole bit. As a mom, I sincerely couldn’t have been more proud. He’s still just as wonderful a person at 16. Little sweetheart.

My daughter didn’t know what to ask for for her 6th birthday, but she remembered I told her that for her first birthday, we asked for donations to the children’s hospital she was admitted to at birth in lieu of gifts that first year. She asked if she could do that instead of asking for presents from her friends and family for her birthday. She loved it so much that she has done it for 4 years in a row now! The hospital is great and makes a very big deal about it with a big presentation cheque for her to pose with and thank you cards. We now have a webpage with them to raise money each year. This year, she asked me if I think she’s raised enough yet to save a life. Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. She is a good person.

When my older daughter was younger, she loved zebras. LOVED. Zebras. She saw a news story about a baby zebra that had fallen out of a moving truck and was critically injured (it was ten years ago, so I don’t remember the backstory). Somehow, the little guy wound up at an animal sanctuary and was slowly recovering. My daughter emptied out her piggy bank and called in every IOU from friends and relatives. Then she told me she wanted to send it to the baby zebra so he could get better. She also asked that we send donations to the zebra for her birthdays and Christmas presents. So we did.

One day, we got a letter in the mailbox from my son’s buddy. It was a thank-you letter to my 17-year-old son, saying how happy and lucky he was to be my son’s friend. He went on about how he was ready to drop out of school, but my son became friends with him and encouraged him to walk across the stage with him at graduation. This friend has had a hard life and lived on the other side of the tracks. Most people would have just been a social friend at school, but my son treated him like all his other friends. He came over all the time and went to play basketball with them.
We really enjoyed having him as part of the family. Reading that letter made me so proud of my son and the way my wife and I raised him. It doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s who you are inside that matters.

Two days ago, was at the grocery store with my 6-year-old daughter. As we turned the corner of an aisle, I saw an older gentleman (late 70s) who seemed to be trying to pick up a bunch of boxes from the floor. I suspect he has a bad knee because he was bending oddly and seemed to have a hard time.
Well, before I had even processed what I was seeing, my 6-year-old rushed over to him, asked him if he would like some help, and then threw herself on her hands and knees to pick up the boxes for him, and put them back in their rightful places.
She is a very special little person... really big heart, for such a little person...

My husband died when my son was 7, leaving us with nothing but debt and his bitter mother. Every day, she’d sneer, “You stressed him into an early grave.” I stayed silent to keep the peace. Yesterday, she yelled it in front of everyone. My son, now 10, looked her in the eye and said, “Grandma, Mom cries because she misses him too. Dad wouldn’t like you saying that. If Mom made him sick... why did he hug her every day?”