Dad has amazing reaction after his son chose a 'Little Mermaid' doll as birthday gift

A California dad is proud of his son for choosing an Ariel doll from The Little Mermaid as his birthday gift.

Mikki Willis' 4-year-old son Azai had received two gifts that were exactly the same for his birthday. So when Mikki took his son to exchange one of the gifts, he was surprised at what Azai had selected instead: an Ariel doll from The Little Mermaid.

"Now how do you think a dad feels when his son wants to get this?" Mikki asks his son in the video, to which the 4-year-old cheerfully yells "yeah!"

"That's how I feel too," Mikki said. "You have my promise forever to love you and accept you no matter what life you choose."

Mikki posted the touching conversation with his son to Facebook on August 21, where it's been viewed over 15 million times and shared over 240,000 times.

"I feel overwhelmed and real overjoyed about the attention it's received and almost not at all surprised," Mikki told ABC News. "It's been amazing to watch it expand, to read the quotes and to really feel the collective, global need for people to feel the need to have permission to be themselves is really validating."