Mum praised for 'hug button' idea for her son's first day at school

The mum inked a tiny heart on the palm of her son's hand so he wouldn't feel alone

A mum-of-three has been praised for the heartwarming way she helped her anxious son Max through is his first day of school.

Louise Mallett inked a tiny heart on the palm of Max's hand, and then drew an identical one on her palm, calling the sweet idea a 'hug button'.

They agreed that if her son felt nervous he could press it and feel a 'squeeze' from his mum. The 30-year-old mum feared her 'littlest baby' Max would struggle to get through his first day without her, but after this plan triumphed she shared the idea on Facebook page, The Motherload, where her post went viral, with over 2.5k shares.

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Louise captioned the black and white snap with: 'So, my littlest baby had his first all-dayer at school today, having been in for a couple of morning settling in sessions.'

The mum explained that she could tell he was feeling a little emotional that morning, so they had a chat and came up with the idea of having a heart each and of they pressed it, it sent a hug to the other one.

She said: '[Max admitted he] cried as he missed me on hit first half day in the first week so this totally worked!'

Continuing, she described how she drew a heart on both of their hands, saying: 'I gave him a spare on his arm in case the one on his hand wore off, we "charged" them by holding hands on the say to school and when I picked him up I said did you get my hugs and he happily said yep!'

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'He also said: "I pressed it for a long time Mummy but I didn't cry," so I said "Ahhhh that will be that big squeeze I got, did you get my big squeeze back?" and he said "yep!"'

Louise's heart-warming post hit a real nerve with the parenting community, with some mums being reduced to tears, and thousands of parents have praised her for the 'simple and beautiful' idea.

'Just had a big cry while reading this 😭 so sweet ' said one commenter, while another posted: 'That is beautiful and brought tears to my eyes. What a clever mummy you are xx'

A third agreed: 'What a beautiful idea. I may use this with my son when he feels anxious. Thank you for sharing. Xx'

What do you think? Will you be trying this idea? Let us know in the comments box below.

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