Mom struggling to calm autistic daughter's flight meltdown 'burst into tears'—strangers' response left her speechless
Traveling with young kids might not be an easy thing for many parents. Most people still try their best to help their children and calm them during their meltdowns. However, one mom was quite worried as she took her autistic daughter on her first flight. The 6-year-old had a meltdown for quite some time and the mom was in tears by the end of the flight. But her fellow passengers' kindness as they landed turned out to be a big surprise for the woman, who goes by u/Forsaken_Creme1842 on Reddit.
"We took our first flight with my 6-year-old, who has level 3 autism and severe sensory processing disorder. The flight was from St Louis to Newark, NJ, so it was nearly 3 hours," the mom shared. She was worried that her daughter would have a meltdown mid-air, so she prepared a lot in advance. "I brought the iPad, speech-generating device, earplugs, compression vest, weighted blanket and sensory toys." But two hours into the flight, nothing helped her when her daughter really wanted to go back home. The little girl screamed and cried for nearly an hour after that. "She has a scream that is hard even for me, her mother, to endure. She kicked and flailed."
The mom pulled her daughter onto her lap and held her close. She put her arms around her and her legs over hers as well. "I closed my eyes and tried to shut my mind to the fact that my lowest parenting moment was happening in front of a hundred strangers who were all trapped having to witness it." When they finally landed, the woman burst into tears as everyone started walking down the aisle. "This was back in April. As overwhelming as the flight was, I'm still more overwhelmed by what happened afterwards." The man who sat next to them carried their luggage for them. Another woman who was traveling with a young child came up to the mom and spoke to her with warmth and kindness.
"She told me that I was a good mom and I did everything I could to try to calm my daughter. She said people understand autism more now and the people on the flight knew she couldn't help it." Another passenger came up to them and told her daughter that she was beautiful in American Sign Language. "She said she worked with kids who were nonverbal and that everything was going to be okay. Yet another passenger, a doctor, asked if we needed any help." The woman added, "A literal crowd of the same people we tortured for an hour, who probably couldn't wait to get out of that airport, took the time to make sure we were okay." The mom wished that she could thank all the people who made her less fearful of the future.
People thanked the woman for sharing the hopeful and wonderful story in the comments section of the thread. u/LeatherRecord2142 wrote, "As a former ASD pre-school teacher, this story made my week. Thanks for sharing. Keep going, mom; you’re doing great!" u/Grand-Goose-1948 commented, "Thank you for sharing. I hope this inspires all of us to be there for others and let them know it’s going to be okay. That’s all we want, to know everything’s going to be okay and we’re all in this together." u/Sealion_31 remarked, "Aww, I’m so glad people were kind and empathetic. You and your daughter definitely deserve it. It also seems like you really did everything in your control to make the flight go smoothly. There are things in life beyond our control and most people can relate to that."