Mom Shares Heartwarming Note From Son: 'Children See More Than You Think'

A video showcasing a handwritten note left by a child for his mother has gone viral on TikTok.

The clip shared by user @dorabobbins, which had 386,000 views and 57,100 likes at the time of this writing, features a shopping list placed on a refrigerator.

A voice in the clip says: "I challenge you to find a better child than mine." Referring to the shopping list, the user said: "This list has been on my fridge since the holiday [school vacation period] started. It's just a checklist so I know what I need to get for the children going back to school.

"Children see a lot more than you think," the mother said. "My little boy disappears upstairs, being a bit weird, and then he comes back down with a letter for me and it says 'For school shopping list on fridge.'"

The video then shows a handful of coins that appeared to have been wrapped in a white sheet of paper. "How adorable is that? He's nine. I've got money for school uniforms, so I don't know why he's worrying. But the fact that he...adorable," the mother said.

In a later comment, the mom said she never talks about "money issues" but both of her children "know to be careful with money no matter how little or lots you have."

She added: "I would never take a penny from him but the thought he gave to it was truly beautiful."

As surprised as the mom in the latest video may have been by her son's perceptiveness, children notice a great deal and not just relevant information, according to a 2019 study by researchers at Ohio State University.

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Developmental Psychology, the study said: "Adults tend to attend selectively, focusing primarily on the most relevant information, whereas young children tend to distribute their attention broadly.

"Distributing attention may be adaptive in young children, making them flexible to changing contingencies in the world and facilitating broad information gathering, both of which are useful when general knowledge about the environment is limited," the study said.

Vladimir Sloutsky, co-author of the study and a professor of psychology at Ohio State University, said: "Adults had a hard time readjusting because they didn't learn the information they thought wouldn't be important.

"Children, on the other hand, recovered quickly to the new circumstances because they weren't ignoring anything. I'm sure a lot of parents will recognize that tendency of children to notice everything, even when you wish they wouldn't," the professor said.

Several users on TikTok were moved by the latest video

In a comment that got 2,124 likes, user Kelly Watters said: "I could cry right now! So kind of him."

In a comment that got 2,624 likes, holi1170 wrote: "What a sweetheart. He's probably been hearing all the news about economy/bills, or kids at school talking about money (which they overhear...)."

Jenni Dean said: "You're obviously doing a fantastic job raising kind and thoughtful children."

Alyse agreed, stating: "That's the most beautiful thing ever what a sweet boy [you're] raising."