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A father tries on a shirt his 9-year-old son sewed for him.

There's always something very touching about receiving a gift from your child, especially when you know it's something that they really put their heart into creating. A video posted to TikTok by Aaron Gouveia shows that sometimes a child can give a gift that’s so surprising it’s almost too much to handle.

Gouveia, 43, is a Massachusetts father of three who posts videos as “Daddy Files” on TikTok about the joys and challenges of family life. On March 26, 2023, he posted a video featuring his son Sam, 9, that was so heartwarming it has received over 12.4 million views.


According to Today.com, Sam is a neurodivergent fourth-grader who's been teased by classmates for wearing nail polish. His father believes he struggles to get along with kids his age because they "don't understand him or his interests."

A year ago, Sam began taking a sewing class at school, and in the video, he showed his dad the blue patterned shirt he made for him.

“I got a shirt that I made at sewing class,” Sam said, holding it in his hands.

“You made that?” his dad asked, astonished.

@daddyfiles

Sam made me a shirt! Wow. #sewing #sewingtiktok #samsewgood #boyswhosew #parenting #raisingboys

“I did the buttons, and I did the button holes,” Sam continued. “I got some help, but I did most of it by myself.”

Gouveia then tried his son's creation on and looked at himself in the mirror. The shirt fit him perfectly. He seemed astonished that his young son was able to make something so well-crafted with so little experience. Gouveia pored over all of the details of the shirt, especially the ‘70s-style lapel.

“The collar is so unique,” he noted. He was also impressed by the box pleat on the back of the shirt that Sam admitted was “hard” to stitch together.

At the end of the video, Sam said he had his father’s style in mind while designing the shirt.

“Why did you choose this pattern?” Gouveia asked.

“Why I chose the pattern is, it just looks cool to me. It stands out to me,” Sam replied. “And it goes with jeans like you usually wear.”

The proud father then asked if he could wear the shirt out to dinner that night.

“Uh yeah,” Sam replied, beaming with pride.

In a follow-up video posted on March 27, Sam thanks people for the support he’s received and says that he’s now taking orders for shirts and dresses. The transformation in Sam is delightful because he was a little insecure when he first handed the shirt to his father. But after the overwhelming support he’s gotten in the 92,000 comments the TikTok video received, he’s excited to share his talents with the world.

@daddyfiles

Bus stop interview with my celebrity child. 🤣 Good news: Your overwhelming support made him open to doing commissions! 🪡 Thank you for 8.5M views! #sewing #sewingtiktok #samsewgood #sewingforyoupage #parenting #fashion #fashiontiktok

“That caught me off guard,” Gouveia told Today.com. “He hasn’t wanted to make things for people. You can even see in my first video, he's nervous. He has a lot of anxiety and doesn’t want to disappoint anyone. But after reading all the positive comments, he was like, ‘Well, I can do it!’”


This article originally appeared two years ago.

via Dorilee and Sean Lavin (used with permission)

Sean and Dorilee Lavin feel complete.

Dorilee Lavin, 39, was a divorced mother of 3 living in Vermont. When she was ready to find her next relationship, she made a list of characteristics she wanted in her next husband. “I manifested him hard,” Dorilee, 39, told Today.com.

Three days later, she saw a tall, dark-haired man named Sean walking his 2 daughters to school and hoped he was single. “It was the sweetest thing ever, like an image you’d see in a magazine,” she recalled. "They had such a happy energy."

After some research, she discovered that he was single, too. Unfortunately, their paths didn’t cross and the school year was nearing its end. "I never got the chance to connect with him, but the [after-school care] was tired of hearing me talk about him to them," she confessed in a TikTok video with over 1.7 million views.


“'OK, Dorilee, we can't have you be bummin' all summer, so we're gonna give him your phone number,” she recalled them saying.

#stitch with @Jackie Gansky 

@dailydoseofdorilee

#stitch with @Jackie Gansky #strategic #interested #perfectman #husbandmaterial #howwemet #waitforthegreats

So, on the last day of summer break, the employees at the after-school care program agreed to give him her phone number. Before he got the digits, she ran into him while she was leaving the center and didn’t think she made a great first impression.

“It was total verbal diarrhea. Like no pickup lines, no nothing here. I actually thought I scared him,” Dorilee shared in the video. Luckily for Dorilee, she didn’t. About an hour later, he texted her and they agreed to go on a date that Saturday night.

They eloped in the woods 111 days after their first date. Dorilee believes she “manifested” Sean, he thinks he may have done the same for her.

“I later learned he had a dream of a woman with long dark curly hair and a captivating energy,” she told Today.com. “Then, when he saw me, he was blown away because I was the woman from his dream. I didn’t believe him when he first told me the story, then he showed me the texts. He had messaged his friends about the dream.”

Dorilee still can’t believe that her metaphysical request was honored. "It hit me hard about two months ago that I'm literally living the life with a partner I called in from the universe years ago and I balled like a baby,” she wrote in the comments.

Their kids get along very well and they’ve worked hard to create positive and peaceful relationships with their exes.

blended families, dorilee sean lavin, happy famileies

The Lavin clan with Sean's mom, Tracy Gandin.

via Dorilee and Sean Lavin (used with permission)

Dorilee and Sean told Upworthy that there are 3 “vital” elements to creating a successful co-parenting relationship: clear communication, open dialogue and always acting in the best interest of the kids.

It’s also essential to leave the past in the past.

“Letting go of any premarital resentment and leaving that in the chapter of your marriage is what helped us move forward with positive co-parenting,” Dorilee told Upworthy. “Raising kids isn't all cupcakes—it can be difficult when married, but there's a whole different aspect after divorce. None of the members of our parental party talk poorly of the others. We don't want to in any capacity have a child think there's any part of them we wouldn't love because they are partly made of the parent we divorced.”

It’s also worth noting that Dorilee has a rather charming name for her ex-husband, with whom she shares co-parenting responsibilities. She calls him her “wusband” (he was my husband).

Even though Dorilee and their family have created a happy and emotionally healthy second chapter in life, there are some who still think she had to employ stalker-style tactics to get her man, an accusation she denies...sort of. “Is it really stalking if I didn't follow him and just made myself available to bump into him at pickup, though?” she wrote in the comments.

Joy

Teacher asks teen daughter to mend a student's coat and gets it back with a funny surprise

“My student was grinning when he showed me the note. He kept looking at it in class and smiling..."

Canva

Sweetness stitched into every bit of this story.

Some stories are wholesome. Others are hilarious. Others still restore some faith in humanity. This one is a combination of all three.

A teacher shared on Reddit how he took his student’s torn coat home so that his crafty daughter could mend the pocket. As he explained in his post, the student didn't seem to have the funds to fix it on his own or replace the jacket.

His daughter didn’t only sew up the jacket, but left her own cheeky bit of “11th grade advice” in note hidden in the coat’s pocket.


“Hey child, it is me, the magical coat fixer. Hope it holds up and please send it back if it doesn’t. Sorry I couldn’t make it as invisible as I hoped, but I did my best,” the note read. “Also since you’re in 8th grade (I think — I’m not 100% sure what grade my dad teaches) I thought you could use some 11th grade advice.

The note then concluded with “MIDDLE SCHOOL SUCKS. YOU’RE ALMOST FREE. YOU CAN MAKE IT. GOOD LUCK," written in all caps.

I asked one of my students who is very poor to give me his torn coat so I could bring it home for my daughter to sew. He came to class and showed me that he found this in the pocket.
byu/thedeadwillwalk inMadeMeSmile

The teacher shared in the comments that even though his student was “embarrassed at first,” he kept pulling out the note and smiling through class.

The teacher shared in the comments that even though his student was “embarrassed at first,” he kept pulling out the note and smiling through class.

Folks who read the story commended the daughter for not only helping the younger student through an act of service, but also with some encouraging words.

“Such a small act of kindness will probably be something this child carries with him for the rest of his life,” one person wrote.

“Your daughter has a HUGE heart. What a gift. ❤️” added another.

Another noted how this story hits on multiple emotional levels, writing:

“There are so many wonderful things about this. You thought to help out a kid in your class who didn't have the resources to help themselves/They weren't afraid of too proud to accept help when they need it/You know your child's skills well enough to know they could help/Not only did your kid go out of their way to help, they thought it might be nice to include a note, a word of wisdom, and a promise to keep helping in the future if needed/The kiddo who needed help recognized how special this note was and thought to share it with you/And now you share it with your internet friends!”

In an interview with TODAY.com, the teacher (who remained anonymous) shared that this kind of behavior was typical of Brianna—his daughter. And apparently, her creativity was contagious, as the little boy gave her his own handmade thank-you card.

Yep, something the biggest acts of generosity are small enough to find in a coat pocket.

A young girl goes trick-or-treating on Halloween.

A family from Utah has ruffled a lot of feathers on Instagram after sharing the Halloween tradition they celebrate with their 2-year-old daughter, Aria. Instead of allowing her to eat all the candy she gets while trick-or-treating, they let her select 5 pieces.

That's right. Just 5 pieces. But there's a catch!

The parents put the remainder of the candy on the porch for the night for the “Switch Witch,” who exchanges the sugary foods for a toy. In this case, Aria received a “Frozen” doll from the witch.

The parents who came up with this idea are Emily and Erik Jensen, fitness trainers and life coaches known for sharing family health and wellness tips on social media. "You can get fun with it and give your witch a name," Levi captioned his post, in part. "The witch who stops by our house is Wilda."


After posting the video with over 10 million views, the couple was deluged by an incredible amount of angry feedback for their new Halloween tradition.

Here’s what everyone is up in arms about.

The video hit right in the heart about issues people are passionate about, Halloween, diet culture, materialism, candy and preserving the magic of childhood.

"What happened to parents just letting kids be kids and enjoy Halloween?" EmilyKohara21 asked. "Dude, it's once a year...." CGroves_08 wrote.

"It’s one day of the year. Give it a rest. You think it’s better to buy your kid toys than to let them have the bite-sized candy?" Beezus04 added.

Many parents thought making a big deal about the candy was a recipe for instilling negative body issues with their daughter. "Or just let your kid enjoy a f***ing treat instead of instilling body hatred and diet culture at FIVE YEARS OLD." TolkienQueerFriend wrote.

In the comments, the people who supported the family noted that a 2-year-old probably shouldn’t be eating all that candy in the first place. “I love this idea! I have a toddler and he doesn’t need candy, but I want him to experience going out and Trick or Treating. I don’t eat candy and he doesn’t need more than 5 pieces at TWO years old!” JACQ2400 wrote.

“When we posted the video, we had no idea the comments would be so heated,” Emily told TODAY.com.

The crux of the issue was a child’s relationship with sugar, and, according to medical professionals, too much sugar in childhood can lead to big problems in adulthood.

“As with anything, too much sugar during childhood may lead to unhealthy cravings as kids grow older,” Dr. Stacy Leatherwood Cannon wrote for Henry Ford Health. “In excess, sugar can lead to obesity, which puts a child at risk for developing high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels and type 2 diabetes (where the body’s response to insulin is not regulated).”

But in the end, families have the right to make their own decisions about what’s appropriate for their children, and for the Jensens, they will stick with limiting the amount of sugar their daughter eats on Halloween. "The 'Switch Witch' isn't for everyone, but it works for us,” Emily told Today.com.



After posting the video with over 10 million views, the couple was deluged by an incredible amount of angry feedback for their new Halloween tradition.

Here’s what everyone is up in arms about.

[Video]

The video hit right in the heart about issues people are passionate about, Halloween, diet culture, materialism, candy and the magic of childhood.

"What happened to parents just letting kids be kids and enjoy Halloween?" EmilyKohara21 asked. "Dude, it's once a year...." CGroves_08 wrote.

"It’s one day of the year. Give it a rest. You think it’s better to buy your kid toys than to let them have the bite-sized candy," Beezus04 added.

Many parents thought making a big deal about the candy was a recipe for instilling negative body issues with their daughter. "Or just let your kid enjoy a f***ing treat instead of instilling body hatred and diet culture at FIVE YEARS OLD." TolkienQueerFriend wrote.

In the comments, the people who supported the family noted that a 2-year-old probably shouldn’t be eating all that candy in the first place. “I love this idea! I have a toddler and he doesn’t need candy, but I want him to experience going out and Trick or Treating. I don’t eat candy and he doesn’t need more than 5 pieces at TWO years old!” JACQ2400.

“When we posted the video, we had no idea the comments would be so heated,” Emily told TODAY.com.

The crux of the issue was a child’s relationship with sugar, and, according to medical professionals, too much sugar in childhood can lead to big problems in adulthood.

“As with anything, too much sugar during childhood may lead to unhealthy cravings as kids grow older,” Dr. Stacy Leatherwood Cannon wrote for Henry Ford Health. “In excess, sugar can lead to obesity, which puts a child at risk for developing high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels and type 2 diabetes (where the body’s response to insulin is not regulated).”

But in the end, families have the right to make their own decisions about what’s appropriate for their children, and for the Jensens, they will stick with limiting the amount of sugar their daughter eats on Halloween. "The 'Switch Witch' isn't for everyone, but it works for us,” Emily told Today.com.