When this mother was 'overwhelmed' at the airport these total strangers stepped in

Wheeling suitcases, balancing your passport, ticket and a bottle of water in one hand as you try to keep an eye out for when your gate opens – travelling can be stressful.

Even more so if you have children you have to look after.

For one woman travelling at Los Angeles International Airport, the stress got too much.

Fellow traveller Beth Dunnington, who was at a gate waiting to board a plane to Portland, noticed a toddler running and around and screaming, while his mum – who appeared to be pregnant – “became completely overwhelmed”.

She posted what happened next on her Facebook page:

His young mom, who was clearly pregnant and traveling alone with her son, became completely overwhelmed... she couldn't pick him up because he was so upset, he kept running away from her, then lying down on the ground, kicking and screaming again. The mother finally sat down on the floor and put her head in her hands, with her kid next to her still having a meltdown, and started crying.

A group of women who didn't know each other, wordlessly came to the mum's aid.

The women in the terminal, there must have been six or seven of us, not women who knew each other, approached and surrounded her and the little boy and we knelt down and formed a circle around them. I sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" to the little boy... one woman had an orange that she peeled, one woman had a little toy in her bag that she let the toddler play with, another woman gave the mom a bottle of water. Someone else helped the mom get the kid's sippy cup out of her bag and give it to him. It was so gorgeous

People on Facebook loved the story, and over 58,000 people liked the post, and it was shared some 17,500 times.

Aww.

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