Tain Tesco stranger’s act of kindness leaves Dad in tears
An act of kindness in Tain Tesco reduced a father to tears after a couple showed compassion and patience towards his daughter who has a rare brain condition.
Paul Smith was in the Tain Tesco checkout queue with his daughter Abby (7), who suffers from a rare condition called bilateral posterior perisylvian polymicrogyria (BPP). According to Paul, this means she can’t understand social etiquette or what behaviour is considered offensive.
“We were at the tills when she was misbehaving – doing anything and everything that she shouldn’t do,” Paul said.
“Abby waved at the lady behind us, then spat at her. I turned and said ‘I’m really sorry, she’s got a brain condition, she doesn’t understand that you can’t do things like that’ but the woman said ‘No, no it’s absolutely fine, no problem at all’, and I apologised again.”
After going through the till, the woman’s husband came up to Paul and Abby.
“The guy came up to us and smiled, then went to give my daughter some money. I said ‘No, no you really don’t need to do that, I’m really sorry about what happened’. But he insisted, saying ‘It’s absolutely fine, she’s lovely and made my wife’s day’.
“We both thanked him, and I shook his hand.
“It’s so hard when people just assume you’re a bad parent, without knowing the details. It wasn’t about the money at all, it was that they weren’t bothered by what she had done and could appreciate that she has a disability. Kindness like that makes a big difference to us, knowing that there’s people like that out there.
“We went back out to the car, and I don’t mind admitting that I had a little cry, because it just got to me – that someone would do something like that after what my daughter did.”
Paul’s fiancée managed to track the kind strangers with a Facebook post, where she passed on a big thank you to the couple.
Explaining the situation, he said: “If my daughter’s having a meltdown in public, you get so many people who will just stand and stare at you, and you know they are thinking ‘God they can’t even control their own child’.
“Abby will talk to anybody, and it means a lot how the staff in Asda and Tesco will take the time to speak to her and always remember her name. Having those little gestures now and again, it’s really special.
“The act of kindness in Tesco, it just really got to both me and Catriona, it’s just a special moment.”
As well as BPP, Abby also suffers from epilepsy, and is due to be tested for ADHD and autism. She currently goes to Bonar Bridge Primary school, who have the equipment and resources needed, as well as Abby receiving one-to-one support from pupil support assistants.
“She’s always happy, she’s always smiling – well, nearly always!
“BPP is a rare condition, the only other people we’ve found with the condition are in America or Australia. We have a lot of professionals involved, but it’s not something that there’s a cure for, we can only try and find ways to manage it. It’s difficult.
“There’s very little out there about the condition, which makes things so hard and makes these small gestures really mean something.”
