A 5-year-old boy has broken hearts across the internet after what he said to his mom at bedtime.
Mom Kirsten Petroska (@mamaintheforest) shared what happened in a post on Threads when her son, Henry, was falling asleep.
As he wept beside her, Kirsten asked him what was wrong. What he said next startled her: “I’m really worried about growing up and going to college. I don’t want to have to be away from you and Daddy.”
Kirsten told Newsweek that she felt relieved and amused, but only for a second. “I could remember having that same kind of anxiety as a child and how good it felt to be taken seriously and how awful it felt to be dismissed,” the 37-year-old said. “I knew I had to take his worries seriously.”
View on Threads
Kirsten, who lives with her husband Mike Hussey, 41, and their three children—Lizzy, 17, Michael, 12, and Henry, 5—has learned how to navigate her son’s big feelings with intention.
She focuses on making sure he feels safe and heard, rather than pushing for explanations with simple questions, such as, ‘How does this feel in your body? What picture is in your mind?’
That night, the conversation was short. “I told him we would never make him do anything he didn’t feel like he was ready for, and that I loved him so much and was glad he was able to tell me,” Kirsten said. “He fell asleep pretty much instantly afterward.”
By morning, Henry’s fear had subsided. After speaking with his older sister Lizzy—who is heading to college next fall—he felt a lot better about the situation and “would probably want to spend some nights at college, but not all of them,” Kirsten wrote in her post.
“It sounded like a good plan,” the mom of three added.
Online, Kirsten’s post went viral, clocking up over 6,000 likes and shares. Parents shared their own memories of being overwhelmed by “grown-up” worries from their children in the comments.
“At 4 my son watched our neighbor go to college, ‘Mommy, I’m living with you FOREVER.’ Me: if that’s what you want that’s fine. He’s 22 now. He lives at college and I need to schedule time with him in advance,” one user shared.
“When our son was about 5 (he’s 31 now), he said ‘Mum, when I grow up, I’m going to buy the house next door, so I can see you and daddy every day’,” another wrote.
To Kirsten, the tender moment with her son served as a reminder that children have more depth than society gives them credit for.
“They truly soak in everything we give them,” Kirsten said. “Kids will remember how we help them through their biggest anxieties, even if they feel small or unimportant to us as adults, and that will frame how they seek and receive help and support as adults.”