When Canadian mom Jeanean Thomas decided to take her 6-year-old daughter to the skate park for the first time, she was a bit nervous. She worried that the boys who typically hung out there would be nasty and/or unwelcoming toward her girl. But she never expected what happened instead. This story reveals that children and young people often possess tremendous heart. Read Jeanean’s heartwarming letter below.
“Dear teenage boy at the skate park:
You’re probably about 15-years-old, so I don’t expect you to be very mature or for you to want a little girl on your skate ramp for that matter. What you don’t know is that my daughter as been wanting to skateboard for months. I actually had to convince her that skateboarding wasn’t for just boys. So when we walked up to the skate park and saw that it was full of teenage boys who were smoking and swearing, she immediately wanted to turn around and go home. 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 all 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 with a sense of pride and with the confidence that she can do anything, because of you.”
Here is the mother’s original post:
Please share Jeanean’s moving letter if you agree that what the teenage boy was simply wonderful!
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