Parenting: A story which highlights the qualities of kindness

By Louise Flanagan

Last weekend, Letterkenny Babies Facebook page received an appreciation post to share.

It gained great traction with well over 1,000 people reacting positively to the story:
“My son had a bit too much to drink last night and was sick and unable to stand.
“A young man who couldn’t have been more than 19 or 20 years old stopped and helped him. He got him water and food, rang me and stayed with him until I got there. He was so calm and kind, and assured my son that no one had taken pictures of him and he hadn’t done anything bad.
“There was another young man too. I was a bit stressed so I didn’t thank them properly but I noticed he got into his mum’s car after, so hopefully she’ll see this. Thank you, you are a credit to yourself and your family and hopefully this very kind act will pay you back a hundredfold.”

What a wonderful message to receive. Needless to say, page members heaped well deserved praise on the young men who helped out; “This is the best story I have read in a long time. Thank God for kindness. The lads should be very proud of themselves, as should their families. We are all human, everyone needs help from time to time.”

“I love this! A demonstration of the qualities of kindness and empathy that we all hope to raise our sons and daughters to possess. Well done to that young lad. A credit to his parents and most importantly himself!”

Like everyone else, I was so glad to read this positive story demonstrating the care and compassion we hope our children will encounter when they are out socialising – particularly if they find themselves in a vulnerable position.
When young people head out for the night, our main advice as parents tends to be ‘look after yourself’ and ‘don’t drink too much’ (or ideally, don’t drink at all.) But we all know that even the best of us can slip up in that regard.

Urging young people to look after each other is an equally important message to impart.
Something in this message that made me shiver was the reference to other people potentially taking photos of someone in a state of distress, rather than helping them out. It’s hard to fathom such a reaction, but that is sadly the reality of the times we’re in.

As the school holidays draw near, plenty of our young people will be out celebrating with their friends. Hopefully they will make good choices for themselves but as you impart your parental advice, factor in some words encouraging them to keep an eye out for each other and to be kind to others both in the club and on the street.

Picking up someone’s phone and ringing their mammy is probably a daunting thing for a young person to do, but assure them that all a mammy cares about is the safety of their child. They’ll have the mammy’s eternal gratitude if they’re the one to make that call.
As demonstrated in this instance, kindness and empathy will help to get everyone home safe after a night out.

Louise Flanagan is an admin of Letterkenny Babies Facebook page and the author of the children’s book series, Dragonterra.
www.dragonterra.ie

Her weekly column appears in the Donegal News every Thursday.

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