Toddler’s adorable reaction to new baby brother resonates with middle children everywhere

Many older siblings have memories of wishing their younger brother or sister weren’t around.

One mother has captured the moment her son discovered he wasn’t the baby of the household anymore on TikTok, where she shared the moment her middle son met his baby brother for the first time. “When you’re just not ready to give up being the youngest yet…” Alex Serraes captioned her video.

Serraes is a mother to three boys: Luke, three; Benjamin, 20 months old; and Theo. In the video, Benjamin is sitting on a hospital bed wearing a T-shirt that says “middle bro” on it while Theo’s shirt says “little bro.” The two are meeting for the first time.

“When we asked Benjamin if he wanted to take a picture, he was so excited and kept holding his arms out. I was thinking: ‘Oh my gosh, this is going surprisingly well,’” she told Today in an interview.

Within a couple of seconds, Benjamin decided that he was done being the nice older brother and pushed Theo away. “Get,” Benjamin could be heard saying. He then began to cry and reached for his grandmother, as if to say, "help!"

Since being posted on 27 July, Serraes’ TikTok has received over two million views. “I didn’t expect for it to blow up like that!” she said in a statement to The Independent. “I actually posted it while I was in the hospital so when I woke up and saw my TikTok had over one million views I was shocked.”

Many people took to the comments section to admit how entertaining they thought Benjamin’s reaction was. “Return to sender,” one commenter joked.

“He said: ‘Take him back where you got him from. I am the youngest of the family, this one is a no,’” another joke in the comments read.

Another commenter agreed, writing: “He said nah this little guy is trying to dethrone me, I’m not here for it folks.”

Other commenters were parents themselves and talked about their own experiences introducing their children to a sibling. “My oldest just looked at my second born and slapped him the day we came home,” one person recalled.

“When my second born came home and cried my oldest came to me and said ‘your baby’s crying,’’’ another mother wrote.

According to Serraes, her middle son reacted the way he did because he hadn’t known what was coming. “I think part of it is that Benjamin didn’t realise what was in my belly,” the mother of three said. “Even when he walked into the hospital room, he didn’t notice the baby. He hadn’t seen me and his dad in two days and he was so excited. Then he saw Theo and was like: ‘What is happening?’”

And even though Benjamin’s reaction might not have been what she hoped, Serraes said her oldest son Luke took the news better. Thankfully Benjamin and Theo are on better terms now.

“What’s funny is Benjamin is now obsessed with Theo — and my oldest one, he likes Theo, but he sort of wants to do his own thing,” she said. “But [Benjamin’s] really taken to Theo. Every morning he runs in and tries to kiss him on the head.”

Despite being on better terms, Benjamin still does his best to make sure he gets extra attention from his parents. “He’s been doing things to get attention lately. Like he’ll climb up on our tables and start dancing or yelling at the top of his lungs,” Serraes said.