Emotional viewers were left in tears as they watched a little boy help a girl with Down’s syndrome overcome her fear of rabbits in a heart-warming episode of The Secret Life Of 4-Year-Olds.
Fans tweeted that they were ‘bawling their eyes out’ after Tomas helped his ‘best friend’ Ada find the courage to stroke a pet rabbit, after she initially ran away scared.
Clutching a soft toy, he told her ‘rabbits don’t eat humans… only carrots’ before standing by her side as she gingerly touched the pet.
Heart-warming moment: Secret Life of 4-Year-Olds viewers were left in tears as they watched Tomas, left, help new best friend Ada, right, who has Down’s syndrome, pet the rabbit
Overwhelmed: Dozens of fans took to Twitter to share their support for the children
Child development experts, who are on hand to watch the children as they get to know each other at the school in Epping, Essex, commented that Tomas displayed huge amounts of empathy when he went to comfort the little girl.
The scene also moved dozens of viewers, who took to Twitter to praise Tomas and his newfound friendship.
One posted: ‘Awwwwwww Ada and Tomas are just the sweetest, my heart melted.’
Another wrote: ‘Tomas and Ada so cute… that little boy is more empathetic than lots of adults I know.’
A third tweeted: ‘Tomas, you are a true gentleman and well done for conquering your fear. Children really are fantastic aren’t they.’
The act of kindness also won over Ada, who later told Tomas he was her ‘best friend’.
Each year on the Channel 4 show, ten four-year-olds gather at a school — this time in Epping, Essex — during the summer holidays, supervised by a couple of firm but kindly teachers and 30 multi-directional cameras dotted throughout the classroom and the playground.
Moved: Viewers said the pair were ‘best friend goals’ and called them ‘the sweetest’
Also among this year’s cast are cheeky scamp Vinnie, self-proclaimed ‘top geezer’ Harper, adorable redhead Patsy and dinosaur fanatic Noah.
All of the children featured in the Channel 4 show are stars in their own right but Ada quickly won over viewers with her big personality.
Asked whether she’s a good girl or a naughty girl she replied ‘naughty girl’ with the cheekiest of grins and a twinkle in her eye.
Scared: Ada ran away in fear after teachers brought a pet rabbit into the nursery
Helping hand: Tomas followed Ada and tried to reassure her that there was nothing to fear
Logic: The four-year-old explained that rabbits ‘don’t eat humans’ only ‘carrot and carrot cake’
Parents Matt Dixon, 37, and Laura, 38, who live with Ada and six-year-old daughter Sophie, previously told how they decided to apply for the show as a way of raising awareness of what it means to be a young child with Down’s syndrome – but also because they thought it would suit their daughter’s big personality.
Ada initially struggled to find someone to play with at the nursery but by the end of the week had made firm friends with Tomas, who firmly declared she was his ‘best friend’.
In a bid to help his friend, Tomas brought a soft toy bunny to Ada and explained: ‘Rabbits don’t eat humans, they only eat carrots and carrot cake,’ before asking her encouragingly: ‘Are we going to stroke the bunny? Are you going to stroke that?’
The episode also saw best friends Vinnie and Harper, gobbling up nine delicious chocolate-covered strawberry snacks, just moments after their teacher Katie had explained that they were for the entire class to enjoy together.
Facing her fears: With Tomas’ support, Ada found the courage to touch the pet rabbit
Best friends: Tomas looked on as Ada gingerly stroked the pet rabbit that had scared her
Heart-warming: Ada said she liked Tomas because ‘he’s very cute’ and said he’s her ‘best friend’
Within minutes of Katie leaving the room, Vinnie convinced Harper that they should split the sprinkle-covered lollies between them and tucked into the snacks together.
But while it might at first appear to be a sign of naughty behaviour, a child psychologist explained that there was a scientific reason behind it as the boys hadn’t yet developed the executive functioning skills which control good decision making.
Dr Shona Goodall, a clinical psychologist at Sheffield Children’s NHS Trust, said: ‘Executive functioning is the ability to make decisions, it’s the control center of the brain.
Vinnie, 4, couldn’t resist the delicious-looking chocolate strawberry lollies that he was meant to share with his classmates. He began eating them as soon as his teacher left the room
‘It takes on board information from our bodies and from the environment outside to make a decision about what to do. This develops at different rates according to age and experience, clearly we can see Vinnie still has some way to go.’
On tonight’s episode, teacher Katie asked some of the group to make nine chocolate strawberry lollies so all of the children could have a treat.
To test their willpower, Katie left the room for a while but told the children: ‘No one’s to eat them now, they’re for later’.
He roped in his new best friend Harper (right) to help him steal the lollies, and the boys got covered in chocolate
Their classmate Fletcher told Vinnie to leave the lollies because they were meant for everyone
The boys hid in the ‘home corner’ to wait for the coast to become clear so they could finish off the snacks
Vinnie, who wants to be a chef when he grows up, started by eating the chocolate dripping off the strawberries, much to the dismay of his classmate Fletcher who told him off.
Fletcher and a little girl called Patsy stormed off out of the room while Vinnie roped in his new best friend Harper to lick the chocolate off the strawberries.
The boys are very close, as Vinnie adorably tells the camera that they ‘drink beer and we take our girlfriends out for a date’ together.
The two boys ran and hid in the home corner while Fletcher and Patsy left, but when the coast was clear they ran over to eat the strawberries again.
Dr Shona Goodall, right, a clinical psychologist at Sheffield Children’s NHS Trust, said the boys had not yet developed their executive functioning, which helps us make good decisions
A psychologist revealed there is a scientific reason why the boys were so ‘naughty’; because children aren’t born with the ability to manage desires and impulses, which is something they started to develop at the age of four.
Executive functioning is a set of mental skills that helps us get things done, but little children might not have the experiences to make the right decisions.
When the teacher came back into the room she told Vinnie and Harper that the rest of the class wouldn’t get strawberries because of their actions.
But Vinnie didn’t seem fussed, saying to Harper: ‘They’re just too yummy, ain’t they mate?’
The Secret Life of 4-year-Olds sees 10 children attend a nursery fitted with cameras to show what they really get up to when they’re away from their parents
This series promises to be the most inspiring and heartwarming yet, with viewers witnessing the kind of pluck and fortitude in Victoria, a little girl who survived cancer, and the remarkable Ada, a little girl with Down’s syndrome.
Vinnie and Harper have already become TV stars thanks to their boisterous appearance on ITV’s This Morning on Monday.
As soon as Monday’s segment began, Vinnie and Harper jumped up and down in excitement at seeing themselves on screen, and began crawling around the studio floor and making funny faces at the cameras.
Co-hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby had to stifle their giggles as they attempted to persuade the boys to calm them down by offering sweets – a move that prompted some viewers to insist the ‘hyper’ children should be given fruit, not sugary treats.
The Secret Life of 4 and 5 Year Olds currently airs at 8pm on Tuesday on Channel 4.