Childhood is perhaps the most important time in all of our lives. It’s foundational not only in our identity but also in what we can expect from the world. While some children are learning that they are safe, loved, and protected, others receive messages that say the complete opposite.
Their childhoods lack the stability, care, and kindness that we all deserve. One boy may have had a rough start but he’s now getting the love he may have missed out on before his stepfather came on the scene.
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A stepfather had a question for his stepson.
Lisa Arana, a wife, mother, and esthetician, recently shared a heartwarming moment between one of her sons and her husband. The video of the exchange between the two was captured on the family’s Ring camera. In the video, Arana’s husband walks into the room and asks her son, who is on his computer, a question.
“You know I love you like my son, right?” the man begins. The boy, who appears to be a preteen says yeah, not taking his eyes off of the screen. Then his stepfather asks, “How [would] you feel if I adopt you?”
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@inkedupdame My heart! I can’t stop crying! My son has been hurt, he’s been rejected, and my husband came into his life and filled the holes in my sons little broken heart, piece by piece! #fatherandson #adoption #adoptionstory ♬ He Didn't Have to Be – Brad Paisley
The boy sits, still facing his screen, frozen. His eyes shift and his mouth hangs slightly open as he processes the information. When it all sets in, the sweetest thing happens. He turns toward his stepfather and stands up. Then he asks him for confirmation, “For real?” He asks again his voice breaking.
‘I got you,’ the father said to his son.
The two embrace as the stepfather tells him he’s sincere. The stepdad asks, “Would you like that?” The boy, still holding on, still weepy says, “Yeah.” The stepdad tells him, he’s going to have his last name. Then he reminds him, “You know I love you, right? And I got you, OK?” The boy responds, “OK,” before the video ends.
Arana said her son has been through a lot.
In the caption, Arana wrote: “My son has been hurt, he’s been rejected, and my husband came into his life and filled the holes in my [son’s] little broken heart, piece by piece!” The video, which has been viewed over 17.5 million times, elicited all types of warm, fuzzy feelings. Many shared them in the TikTok comments.
“That man healed something he didn’t break,” one user wrote. Others shared how the video made them reflect on their own stories.
“’I got you’ healed something in me,” someone else wrote.
Another user offered this assessment. “He’s not a step dad, he’s a dad who stepped up 🥹❤️.” We agree and we love it.
