I Am Shauna Rae : Shauna and Thomas Test the Waters of Their New Friendship with a Meet the Parents Date

Shauna Rae is taking the next step in her friendship with Thomas.

In PEOPLE's exclusive sneak peek at Tuesday's episode of I Am Shauna Rae, Shauna and Thomas — who both have pituitary dwarfism — decide to introduce their families, even though they decided to remain platonic after going on a date.

"Today we're having brunch with Thomas and his family. This will be the first time my family is meeting Thomas's family," Shauna shares. "I recently went on a date with Thomas, who also has pituitary dwarfism. The date went well, but Thomas and I have decided to just be friends."

But Thomas remains hopeful that the relationship can grow between the pairing, explaining, "We still have so much to learn from each other and hopefully we can work into something, a bigger friendship, like best friends or really close friends that we can be more like a family."

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Thomas's mother Kerri is excited to meet Shuana's mom Patty because they "have a lot in common."

"We've been through similar situations with Shauna and Tommy so it will be nice for us to have the opportunity to get to know each other," she shares in a confessional.

After learning Thomas is only 22 at brunch, Patty says, "Shauna is older than you" and he replies, "Only by a couple months. Doesn't matter."

"Two months is two months of knowledge," Shuana teases him.

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TLC

The families bond over both Shauna and Thomas having brain cancer when they were babies. Kerri admits that it was "the chemo that caused him to have the height."

When Patty asks about Thomas's height, Kerri says of her 4'8" son: "He does anything and everything he wants to do. Nothing holds him back. We never let anything hold him back. We've just told him, 'You go for it, you do what you want to do.' He's done it."

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She continued, "He was driving  a big 14-wheeler the other day — a big truck." And his stepfather Corey joked, "Just, when you see a big 14-wheeler on the road, you don't see who's driving it, get out of the way."

Patty commends Kerri: "I give you all the kudos in the world for letting him do everything. He's achieved a lot and will continue to where as I feel like maybe put Shauna in too much of a bubble."

TLC

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In a confessional, Patty wonders if she protected her daughter too much, sharing, "Sometimes, I feel I held Shauna back like I kept her in a bubble."

Her husband Mark disagrees, "I don't think you kept her from doing stuff. I don't think you discouraged her from doing stuff."

Patty replies, "I didn't discourage her, but any fears that she gave, I said, 'I'm OK with that,' versus 'Let's just try it,' and that didn't necessarily empower her."

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I Am Shauna Rae airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.