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Last week as I was walking back from the beach to the parking lot there was the sound of babies crying behind me. It was coming from two twins in a pram that their mother was pushing in the hot summer sun. I had passed them earlier as the parents were fastening towels to the top of the seats (one behind the other) to make some shade for the little ones. After a couple minutes of this I turned around and walked back, thinking I'd try to do something to help them feel better. The dad had stayed behind with the 3 year old who I guess wanted to walk, while the mom was hurrying to get back to the car and probably the A/C. The twins were making it known very loudly that they were unhappy, and their mother looked quite unhappy too, apparently not knowing how to provide them with relief other than by rushing to get back. She looked surprised and a bit apprehensive that I accosted her, even though I was smiling I guess I did look a bit weird, bald guy shirtless with jeans and heavy boots, a large backpack and a surfboard, but she relaxed as she understood my concern for her family and we started chatting about babies and how difficult it is sometimes to figure out exactly what it is that they need, especially when they're 6 months old and there's two of them and it's so hot out here, and maybe it was a mistake to bring them to the beach but their brother really wanted to see the ocean and he had enjoyed it very much, and it looked like they were teething maybe, and how I remember I was stressed out when my children were that age and they cried like that, especially in the evening, etc. The chit-chat turned out win-win: the babies, probably intrigued by my voice that they hadn't heard before and maybe also indirectly soothed by their mother's more relaxed voice, were now merely sobbing softly, their mom was less stressed out, and I was happy to see that I was being helpful. Not wanting to impose my presence on them too long and maybe also provoke the father into worrying about what was happening in front, I said goodbye and walked off after maybe 3 minutes, and unfortunately the crying picked up almost immediately. Both parts of the family passed me by as I was gearing up to leave and we exchanged smiles and nods, then a bit later I passed them by their car and they recognized me with the motorcycle and waved and smiled How differently this would have gone 2 or 3 years ago, before I had learned some NVC, when I might have approached the mom with a scowl and an aggressive tone and questionned her disapprovingly for how she was mistreating these two helpless babies, with thoughts like "you heartless, irresponsible idiot!" in my head...