Boy surprises his favorite aunt at an art competition with a beautiful painting he made of her

Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 20, 2023. It has since been updated.

The relationship between kids and their aunts and uncles can be unexpectedly beautiful. Every child has a favorite aunt who loves to pamper them and spends enough time with them. In a video posted on Reddit by u/Shark-Farts, one such aunt can be seen visiting an art gallery with her nephews. She takes a closer look at one of the paintings on display and says, "That looks like me" and laughs.

When she reads the description beside it, she is surprised to learn that it is indeed a painting of her. "Lenny did it," one of the boys tells her, pointing at the other child. Stunned by her nephew's heartwarming gesture of love, the woman immediately wraps him in a warm embrace. Meanwhile, another family member informs her that he's been chosen as a finalist in the art competition.

Lenny then points at the description for his aunt to read the whole thing. "Auntie Steph is a very favorite person because she always makes my day brighter. She makes everything fun. Auntie Steph grows her own sunflowers and gives them to people to make them happy. She's a beautiful person inside and out," she reads, her voice cracking with emotion. She then hugs the boy again and says, "Oh my gosh, he's doing amazing." The video concludes with the aunt saying, "It's incredible."

The heartwarming video garnered over 82,200 upvotes and is captioned, "Nephew surprises his aunt with a painting he made of her that earned finalist placement in an art competition." Many on the social media platform found the video adorable. u/l0vableDarkness commented, "Omg that's amazing. I hope this young man's talent is nurtured, he has a really good ability there."

"He's also got a very kind heart and can see the good in people judging from how he writes about his aunt." u/hagrid007 expressed, "I love the way that Lenny stood back, not pushing himself for Auntie to look. Then he was so shy when she first turned around. Adorable." u/MrsHppy wrote, "The best part of this is I'm willing to bet she had no idea he noticed those, what she thought were, small things. This made my heart happy." 

u/ccottonball commented, "I love this so much. Just a little bit of light in a dark world. Aunt Steph is obviously a big part of that kid's life! We all should be so lucky." u/easycure pointed out, "That kid is both incredibly thoughtful and incredibly talented. With family as loving as that, I hope he has a bright future ahead!"

In another story of kids and their aunts, a toddler is left flabbergasted upon meeting their mom's twin sister for the first time. They stare at the second woman intently, as if they are trying to process what they are seeing. This reaction is not uncommon among babies when they see identical twins for the first time. According to experts, babies are still developing their ability to recognize and differentiate between faces, so seeing two people who look the same can be overwhelming and confusing.

Many Reddit users were amused by the child's response. u/bonkersx4 wrote, "I have identical twin daughters (16) and they love to confuse people. They were at Target the other day looking at books and they were in different aisles. Some guy walked past the first twin then went past the second twin and he stopped and backed up. He was so confused for a minute."

"When you swear your object permanence was kicking in, and your aunt decides to throw you a curve ball," commented u/Budget_Report_2382.