A Kansas second-grader is warming hearts around the web with a photo posted online of him consoling an autistic classmate.

Courtney Coko Moore of Wichita uploaded an image to Facebook of the moment her son, 8-year-old Christian, held hands with the other boy, Connor, also 8 years old, when he was crying, WIVB reported.

The snap was captioned: “I’m so proud of my son, he [saw] a kid balled up into a corner crying, so he went to console him, grabbed his hand and walked him inside of the school! It is an honor to raise such a loving, compassionate child! He’s a kid with a big heart, the first day of school started off right.”

The photo has been shared over 4,000 times.

The mother of the other boy, April Cites, was touched by the second-grader’s gesture to her son, reports KWCH12.

Cites said: “Tell your son I said thank you so very much! That little boy he helped is my son and is autistic, I worry every day that he is going to get bullied for being different and your son just absolutely warmed my heart. If there were more children like him I wouldn’t worry about such things.”

Moore said she hopes the two will become buddies.

“I hope that this will be the beginning of a new friendship for both our boys. Your son was so sweet,” she said, adding that her son struggles with speech as well.