For months, an Ontario mother’s young daughter had been wanting to learn how to skateboard, but had always been too afraid because she thought skateboarding was just for boys. After months of convincing, Jeanean took her daughter to the local skatepark to finally learn.
However, when the two first arrived at the park, they were disappointed when they saw it was full of intimidating teenage boys. Jeanean’s daughter immediately wanted to turn around and go home, but she made her stay because she didn’t want to think skating was ‘just for boys.’
However, Jeanean never expected to see what happened next when one of the boys approached her daughter. Later that day, Jeanean wrote a letter to the boy at the skatepark called “Dear teenage boy at the skate park.”
‘I secretly wanted to go too because I didn’t want to have to put on my mom voice and exchange words with you. I also didn’t want my daughter to feel like she had to be scared of anyone, or that she wasn’t entitled to that skate park just as much as you were. So when she said, ‘Mom it’s full of older boys,’ I calmly said, ‘So what, they don’t own the skate park.’ She proceeded to go down the ramp in spite of you and your friends flying past her and grinding rails beside her.”
“She only had two or three runs in before you approached her and said Hey, excuse me…” I immediately prepared to deliver my ‘She’s allowed to use this park just as much as you guys’ speech when I heard you say, Your feet are wrong. Can I help you?’ You proceeded to spend almost an hour with my daughter showing her how to balance and steer, and she listened to you – a feat not attained by most adults. You held her hand and helped her get up when she fell down and I even heard you tell her to stay away from the rails so that she wouldn’t get hurt.”
“I want you to know that I am proud that you are part of my community, and I want to thank you for being kind to my daughter, even though your friends made fun of you for it. She left the skate park with a sense of pride and with the confidence that she can do anything, because of you.”
Can you believe how kind this teenager boy was to a little girl trying to learn how to skateboard? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
[Featured image credit: Jeanean Thomas]