A Stranger's Kindness Saved the Day When This Mom's Toddler Refused to Use a Public Restroom

How many times have you been in a public restroom with your child when someone started banging on the door? Once? Twice? About a billion? It often feels that way when your kids are little and you're struggling to get them to pee in a sized-for-one stall, then later emerge to find a bunch of loudly sighing strangers giving you the evil eye.

If I had a dime for every time I broke out in a sweat while attempting to undress my kid, secure the seat cover, run the water in the sink (because duh!), and pray to the potty gods that I wasn't holding up the line, well, I'd be a very, very rich woman. And yet not once, in all my years of nervously dragging my little ones in and out of restaurant bathrooms, did anyone ever stop the eye-rolling and offer to help.

But a stranger in a Kansas McDonald's recently showed that a little kindness goes a long, long way, after overhearing a public bathroom battle between Tiffany Miller and her 3-year-old. See, Tiffany was attempting to convince her daughter to use the Mickey D's bathroom before a long drive home. But the little girl was afraid the toilet would flush while she was sitting on it, so the pair had reached a detente. (Totally don't blame her, btw—I'm 47 and those things scare me, too!)

"Then, you stepped in," Tiffany writes in a heartfelt message to the unknown woman, which she later posted on Facebook. "You told her you would give her a bracelet if she would go potty for Mommy. She perked up and agreed. I turned to quickly put her on the potty (before she changed her mind). You told her the bracelet would be waiting outside the stall for her. I turned to say thank you, but you were already gone. Outside the stall was a bracelet and a mini Snickers bar. Her eyes lit up as she put the bracelet on after using the bathroom. We made it home to Wichita safely and she is currently sleeping soundly next to me...still wearing the bracelet. "

How amazing is THAT?! Kind of restores your faith in humanity, doesn't it? Just when it seems the world can't get any uglier a stranger steps in to prove that there are still good, caring people out there.

• Have a toddler at home? Sign up for our Parents Daily for Toddlers newsletter

"I wish I could have thanked you in person, but maybe you will see this," Tiffany continued. "If not, hopefully it inspires someone else to be kind like you were."

What she said.

Hollee Actman Becker is a freelance writer, blogger, and mom of two who writes about parenting and pop culture. Check out her website holleeactmanbecker.com for more, and then follow her on Instagram and Twitter.