If you've ever flown solo with an infant, then you know all the shades of hell it can be.
Mom Rebekka Garvison was staring that hell square in the eye when she boarded a 6 a.m. flight from Michigan to Chicago with four month-old Rylee in tow. She was on her way to surprise her husband in another city, and she needed this flight to go as smoothly as possible.
Then Garvison's worst fears materialized. Her baby girl started to cry and would not settle.
Cue the collective stink eye from all the passengers around her. Oh, this is going to be some flight, you can imagine them thinking through gritted teeth. Probably Garvison was thinking the same herself.
But not Nyfesha Miller. When Garvison moved seats and found herself sitting next to the actress, Miller wasn't flustered. Not in the slightest.
In fact, she offered to hold Rylee.
Garvison describes what happened next in a Facebook post:
Something amazing happened to me today and I will never be able to express how grateful I am for it. If anyone has ever...
Posted by Rebekka Garvison on Thursday, September 24, 2015
"...As soon as she had her, Rylee was looking out the window and stopped crying. When we got in the air she fell right asleep and slept in her lap the whole flight until we got to our gate. She kept saying it wasn't a problem at all and it was actually a comforting feeling for her."
Rylee spent the whole time in the air snoozing in Miller's arms. And everyone enjoyed a more peaceful flight for it.
The mom of three even helped Garvison get her stroller and carseat set up after the plane had landed.
To say that Garvison was grateful for the random act of kindness is kind of an understatement.
"You could've just rolled your eyes and been irritated like everyone else, but you took her and held her the entire flight and let me get some rest and peace of mind. It brought tears to my eyes while I sat there and watched you and Rylee sleeping next to me."
And for her part, Miller enjoyed a nice baby snuggle.
It's time we stop treating parents who fly solo like scourge of the earth and start lending them a hand. I remember having to do the same when my son was just a few months old. Believe me, it was the absolute last thing I wanted to do, but circumstances left me with no choice.
While all the passengers stared at me like they wanted the ground to swallow me and my baby whole, the only help I got was from a fellow mom travelling solo with her baby. If it wasn't for her help, I don't think I could have managed that seven-hour flight alone.
It takes village, and that village doesn't go away when you board a plane...
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Health Canada, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (US CPSC), and Chewbeads have jointly recalled the above "Where's the Pacifier?" teething clips in various designs, including a butterfly, dinosaur, heart or sheriff badge.
The D-ring at the end of the clips may break causing the beads to detach, posing a choking hazard.
While there have been no injuries reported, Chewbeads has received seven reports of D-ring breakage, two of which were reported in Canada.
Customers are advised to stop using the clips immediately and contact Chewbeads to receive a full refund or replacement clip (made with thicker materials).
For further information, customers may contact Chewbeads toll-free at 1-888-786-7790 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, by email or via the company's website.
From September 2014 through June 2015, approximately 5,900 of the teething clips were sold in Canada, and approximately 45,000 in the United States.
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For most of us, life without use of our limbs is unthinkable. Now imagine the extra challenges of mobility for a parent in a wheelchair.
Sharina Jones lost the use of her legs when she was shot at just five years-old. Thirty years on, she was about to become a mother.
And she had no idea how she would manage to get around with her baby. After all, she couldn't push both a stroller and her wheelchair at the same time. Or could she?
It was a logistical quandary that a Detroit teen decided to tackle.
High schooler Alden Kain worked with Jones, and six months later, an awesome prototype was born that will change her life as a mom in the best possible way.
“It was great to meet her and talk to her about what she wants and doesn’t want,” said Kain. “Talking to her was a big help, figuring out the workability of the device, where to put a diaper bag, whether or not she could unhook the stroller and how she can move around in the chair.”
The design marries the wheelchair with a standard infant car seat, and allows Jones to see and interact with her baby while she's on the move. For parents with physical disabilities, this hybrid seat is a game-changer.
Like the best inventions, the stroller-chair seems so obvious and simple - now that someone has designed it.
“It was extremely exciting and rewarding to see Sharina using it,” said 16 year-old Kain.
Anyone questioning the contributions of teenagers to society need only look to this video. Need is all around us. Kids see the world with fresh eyes. They see solutions that we can't.
We need to take our kids' abilities more seriously; seriously.
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