Boy praises his military mom at football practice without realizing she's standing right behind him

Editor's note: This article was originally published on September 30, 2022. It has since been updated.

A military mom surprised her son during football practice. The touching video is tugging at people's heartstrings on social media. The football player was talking about his mom, telling his teammates and coaches how hardworking she was when she surprised him. It's moving to see how much he respects his mom for serving in the military. He can be heard telling his teammates, "In my family, somebody that I respect, there's a lot of people, but I would say that it is my mom because she's been gone for almost a year serving in the military and she works hard. I know what she doesn't know, she's a hard worker." While the young boy went on praising his mom, little did he know that his mom was standing right behind him. The boy had no idea she was there the entire time listening to him.

As he mentioned his mother as his role model, mom's face lit up and she moves to the front and stands right behind him. When he finishes speaking, his mother taps him on his back. That's when he turns around and sees his mom. He can be seen bursting into joy when he picks her up, hugging her. It's very emotional to see military personnel coming back to their families after serving. GoodNews Movement reshared the video captioning it, "Mom came home early from deployment and surprised her son at football practice… I love that before the surprise, he was telling the team what his mom meant to him."

Many children of the military, struggle not to be able to see their parents for so long. When a parent is called to active duty, children may have a very difficult time adjusting. Some kids might not comprehend the need for a parent to go, while others would worry about their parent's safety. Some kids could even be upset with a parent who leaves. There are 1.76 million children and youth in military families in the U.S., reports MCEC. A high incidence of mental health challenges was seen in children from military families. With many deployments and frequent changes, military life can cause children immense psychological stress. Approximately one in four youngsters showed signs of depression, and one in five kids experienced academic difficulties. One out of every five kids struggled to adjust to their parents' deployment separation.

Since the video was shared, it has been viewed more than 2.1 million times. The post has received several likes and comments. “INSTANTLY snatched her up. No hesitation! He needed that that day,” expressed a user. “I’m not crying, you are,” commented a second. “I’m crying like a little baby right now,” wrote a third. Actress Viola Davis joined the commenters on the post, saying, "Omg!!! My heart!"

A user shared, "how she used to pick him up as a baby, and now he's picking his mommy." Another user commented, saying, "Awe when she starts bouncing! Such a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime moment. Lord, please bless them!" A user pointed out that it's beautiful to see the young man's values, "Well said, young man. His squeeze said it all. Wow, he looks like his mama too. Beautiful"

Twitter users also seemed moved by the video. A user commented, "You would think these would get old, but they NEVER do. Thank you for your service." Another user shares that the feeling of seeing your loved one is unmatched, "Nothing like family love and the longing and yearning of seeing a loved one again" A user shared that they'd like to see more videos like this being shared, "Joyous moments like this is what we need to see more on social media platforms."

A user shared that they lost their mother in the war in 1994, "Lost my mom in 94, still seems like yesterday. These beautiful videos always touch my heart."