A few years ago, I asked my youngest son if I could pick him up. At almost 7 years old, he was very conscious of the line between being a big boy or a baby, and he was confused about why I’d want to do something so clearly reserved for babies.
I explained to him, “One day, I was holding your older sister [16 as I was talking] and I put her down and then never picked her up again, and I didn’t even know it was the last time. I don’t even know when it was.”
He graciously allowed me to pick him up, and I snapped a quick picture to remember the moment. Even though it didn’t turn out to be the last time, it was still a moment we took together to be consciously aware of how special it is to hold and be held.
Now, parents across TikTok are taking the same idea to a higher level: one last “uppy” for their teen.
Picking Up Your Baby Is Something So Special
Many of these videos feature moms and their boys who have just turned 13. Even more than 7, 13 is a significant dividing line: it’s hard to deny that our ‘babies’ have grown up and aren’t really babies anymore (even though they’ll always be our babies).
At almost seven, I knew it had been a while since I’d picked my little boy up, and that those moments were becoming very starkly fewer and farther between. At 13, this gap is so much wider. For most of us, by the time our kid is age 13, we probably can’t remember the last time that we picked them up and held them.
In these trending videos, we see moms explaining this to their teens, and then the “last uppy” is captured on camera.
The Trend Has Moms & Their Babies Crying With Love
Honestly, I’m crying too.
The most beautiful, terrifying, wonderful, awful thing our babies do is grow up. We get the privilege of watching, guiding, and following along, and we gain and lose so much along the way. That incredible 14-year-old who is starting high school, that grown baby joining the military or taking that first job, we love them so much, and we still miss the three-year-old who couldn’t pronounce the letter R and the 7-year-old who thought the funniest thing in the world was that cats have butts.
If we could, we’d wrap every single moment up in our arms and hold on so we don’t lose a single one. We’d have our cake and eat it too, collect every single version of our babies along the way, and never ever let them go.
And yet, they grow, and those old versions do disappear.
Picking up your teenager one last time is a way to grapple with that loss and embrace their growth.
You Can Join The Trend Even if Your Child Is A Bit Older
At age 13, when your son is just turning into a teenager, it is a great time for this trend, for so many reasons.
It’s a time when they suddenly get a lot bigger and taller, so that picking them up might soon cease to be feasible (if it isn’t already), and, as mentioned, it’s a big transition from young childhood into adolescence.
That doesn’t mean it’s the only time to try this out, though! If your kid is old enough that his “uppy” days might be at or near their end, and your back is up to the task, then the age range is right. (Seriously, though, if you already have back trouble, maybe consider a lap-sit on the couch or a cuddle instead.)
One mom even asked her 21-year-old son to participate! And yes, she managed it!