Skylar Hamerter had her heart set on going to the father-daughter dance with her dad.
Even though he didn’t show up to last year’s dance. She wanted to have a relationship with her father.
“So this year she comes to me ahead of time and says, ‘Mommy, I want my dad to come with me to the dance. I don’t want grandpa. I want my dad, I want everyone to know I have a dad,’” mom Trelysia Hamerter told TODAY.
Though she was counting on her dad to come through, that isn’t what happened.
Skylar was very upset the day before the dance.
“I felt so bad because there was nothing I could do because I’m not a male,” mom said.
Skylar’s 11-year-old brother Christian wasn’t about to let his little sister’s big night be ruined.
He told his sister that he would take her to the dance.
“If he doesn’t show, mom, I’d like to take Skylar to the dance… she deserves to know that a man can keep his word and that she’s really special,” Christian told his mom.
And if they were going to do this, they were going to do this right. Christian went out and got himself a beautiful blue suit with a gold tie that perfectly matches his sister’s dress just in case her dad didn’t show up. So, he was ready to go on the day of the dance when he was to be her date.
Hamerter was so overwhelmed by her son’s sweet gesture that she posted about it on Facebook where it ended up going viral. That post was shared more than 52,000 times.
“This is the 2nd year that my daughter’s father stood her up for the Daddy/ daughter dance. She cried because she had her heart set on going. I felt so bad because there was nothing I could do because I’m not a male(obviously). Then her big brother stepped in and said he’d take her because he wanted his sister to know that she deserves a man keeping his word and making her feel special….. y’all I literally cried. Just know that I’m raising someone a GREAT HUSBAND one day,” she wrote on Facebook.
Dr. Linda Nielsen, Professor of Adolescent and Educational Psychology at Wake Forest University, says father figures don’t have to be biological fathers or dads who are always physically present in order to have a positive impact on girls.
This can be any father figure that is “emotionally invested and active in the lives of their daughters – at every stage of development.”
Daughters who have strong relationships with their father or a father figure are known to get better grades, make more money, and be emotionally resilient as an adult.
Thanks to her brother, Skylar will grow up to be a strong, confident woman.
Hamerter’s post received more than 1,500 comments.
“I know you are proud because I am. He will definitely make some woman a magnificent husband. He knows how to treat the opposite sex. Toot your own horn because you are nurturing a strong young man. May God continue to bless you and your family,” wrote one commenter.
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