If you recall your first day at school, you probably remember how stressful it was. Suddenly you’re in a new place, surrounded by all these new faces – it can get quite overwhelming, especially when you’re a kid. However, having someone you can trust by your side can quickly make all of your fears go away.

Courtney Moore recently shared a photo of her son, Christian, holding his classmate Connor’s hand and the photo quickly went viral for all the good reasons. On their first day at school, Christian noticed Connor crying in a corner and decided to console him. At the time, Christian didn’t know that Connor had autism and that one of the reasons he was crying was because he felt overwhelmed by the new environment.

“Before school, he was super excited to start the day. I wasn’t there so I can only guess what caused him to cry but he does get overwhelmed with too much going on around him or if it’s too noisy and he also has very strong emotions so when he is either upset or super happy it is usually expressed in tears,” Connor’s mom  April told Bored Panda.

More info: Facebook

A photo of two elementary school boys recently went viral for all the right reasons

“I saw him on the ground with Connor as Connor was crying in the corner and he was consoling him. He grabs his hand and walks him to the front door,” said Courtney in an interview with KAKE. “We waited until the bell rang and he walked him inside of the school. The rest is history. They have an inseparable bond.” April have told us, that the boys became good friends. “From what they have told us they find each other at recess, we have had 2 playdates since the picture was taken and once things calm down after we move hopefully there will be some sleepovers,” she said.

While Connor’s parents weren’t present during his first day of school, they were happy to know that someone took care of him. “Well Conner had chosen to ride the bus so his father and I were not present during this which is why reading Courtney’s post made me cry, school is one of the few times he is not with us personally and knowing that he got so overwhelmed without us around to comfort him hurt but also seeing that simple kind gesture from Christian was absolutely heartwarming.” April said that her son was diagnosed with autism when he was around 6 years old. “We realized that he was not progressing and actually regressed in some things at around 18 months but his doctors kept telling us that he was just a boy and it would just take time,” she explained. When asked what challenges Connor faces due to being neuroatypical, she said: “The challenges for him I would say is communication, he gets really frustrated when we don’t understand what he has said or when you try to talk to him about something other than what he wants to discuss. And I would say connecting with other kids is another, just recently Conner was asking his father and I to make friends for him.”

“He doesn’t have any siblings so raising him is all we know, I can only imagine it’s like raising a neurotypical child. There may be a few differences like more appointments such as speech therapy and occupational therapy, or like he took longer to potty train and has very specific foods he’s willing to eat but I’m sure it’s a huge rollercoaster of emotions for every parent out there., ” she added.

“He was kind to me.  I was in the 1st day of school and I started crying then he helped me and I was happy,” said  Connor Crites. The boys went on to be good friends, playing together and enjoying superhero movies. We guess it’s true what they say – true friendship knows no bounds!

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