The internet is flipping over heartwarming footage of a father helping his frightened 5-year-old daughter learn a skateboarding trick.
In a now-viral video on Instagram, dad Robert is caught off guard when his daughter Aubrin falls hard on a mini ramp that they built together. But he remains calm.
“Did it scare you or did it hurt you?” Robert, 36, asks. Aubrin replies, “It hurt.”
After the little girl catches her breath, Robert praises her “amazing” drop-in, a technique that requires a rider to keep their body weight forward as they roll down.
“What if I fall again?” Aubrin wonders aloud. “I’m kind of scared… and I really want to do it.”
“Sometimes it’s scary doing hard things,” Robert tells Aubrin. “And it’s totally up to you whether you want to give it (another) go right now.”
When she shares that she’s scared, Robert reminds her, “You don’t have to do this.”
But a tutu-clad Aubrin is determined.
“I want to,” she declares.
Aubrin tries again and again and again as Robert watches, ready to swoop in and catch her.
“I want to say that I think that’s really amazing that after that fall, you’ve gotten up and you’ve worked through that fear,” he says.
By the end of the clip, Aubrin has nailed the move. She and Robert then celebrate with their secret handshake.
"'Did it scare you or did it hurt you?' Love that," wrote one person in the comments.
Added another, "Wish all kids had dads like you & experiences like this where they feel held in safety while trying out new hard things. You are a treasure!"
Robert, an architect in Washington state who requested that his last name be withheld to protect his family's privacy, believes the video is resonating with so many people for several reasons.
“It’s classic comeback story of falling and getting back up to try again, which is something that everyone has encountered in their own lives,” Robert told TODAY Parents. Robert said he’s been “inundated” with messages from men and women telling him they wish they’d had present and encouraging fathers.
“The message is clear: We have to do better,” he said. “Our actions during this crucial and short stretch of time have lasting effects on our children that ripple through future families and generations.”
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