His son chose an Ariel doll as his birthday gift—then the dad's priceless reaction went viral

We often hear about parents celebrating their children for being true to themselves, but one dad’s unwavering support for his son’s choice of a birthday gift took the internet by storm. A simple trip to the store turned into a viral moment after filmmaker Mikki Willis shared a video of his son, Azai, picking out a new toy. Azai had received two identical gifts for his birthday, so Willis took him to the store to exchange one, as per Buzzfeed. When Azai chose an Ariel doll, his dad’s reaction was priceless. While holding up the doll, Willis asked, "Now, how do you think a dad feels when his son wants to get this?" 

Azai, without hesitation, shouted excitedly. "Yeah!" Willis matched his enthusiasm. "Yeah! That's how we feel." Then he turned to the camera with a message, "I let my boys choose their life." The video, originally posted on Facebook, quickly went viral. Willis later explained why he decided to post the video. After the toy store visit, he and Azai stopped at a restaurant, where Azai played with his new doll. That’s when Willis noticed several women giving them disapproving looks, which made him think about the larger conversation surrounding gender norms. 

In response to people asking how he felt about Azai choosing the doll, Willis said, "The honest answer is, it didn’t surprise me at all. Azai is equally fascinated by princesses and robots. One moment he's all boy, the next he's expressing a softer, more angelic side," per TODAY. He admitted that part of him almost questioned his son’s choice. He said, "I had to resist my urge to say, 'Why don’t we choose a more realistic doll.' I don’t want my boys to adapt to the programming that...women should be built like a Barbie."

Ultimately, he let Azai decide for himself. He said, "My job as daddy is to provide a safe playing field for my boys to play whatever game they choose, or better yet, create their own game. I trust that by the time they realize the world isn't as accepting as mommy and daddy, they'll have such a solid foundation that nothing will shake their stance to fully and unabashedly be themselves." He also shared how "it would be a different world if everyone poured love into their children." Azai quickly became attached to his new toy. Wills shared, "He takes the Ariel doll with him everywhere he goes. I imagine she will be on the battlefield with the Transformers any day now."

The original video was eventually deleted from Facebook, but the clip was reshared on X (formerly Twitter) by @MENtorsftp. Willis also posted a follow-up on his Facebook page, Mikki Willis, where he thanked people for the overwhelming response to the original video. He further said, "To that person who didn't understand why a father wouldn't let his son play with his dolly, we'd like to say you grossly underestimate just how fierce a dolly can be." And that's when they started playing a banger sequence of them riding in his jeep, playing drums with a final message, "Let a boy be a boy."