Olivia is 3 years old, has Down syndrome and a heart condition that complicated every month of her first year of life. Brushing her teeth was a nightly battle that not even her mom could win.
One night, Joseph, her 11-year-old brother, decided to try something different. Instead of fighting with the toothbrush, he turned it into a game. Olivia relaxed instantly and let him do it, without tears or struggles.
Lindsey Abbasy, 41, the mother of the family in Lansing, Illinois, recorded what happened the following night: Olivia asked for ‘Joe Joe’ to brush her teeth and rejected her own mom. The video went viral on TikTok, and it is not hard to understand why.