'Nervous' Tony Hawk Helps Daughter, 10, Face Her Fears as She Skates a Ramp for the First Time
As one of the greatest skateboarders of all time, Tony Hawk is fearless when taking on skating feats but, as a father of a young skater, he is not as unshakeable.
The iconic skateboarder was admittedly “nervous” when it came time for his 10-year-old daughter, Kadence Hawk, to follow in his ramp-conquering footsteps.
On Saturday, the skateboarder posted a touching video that showed him encouraging his anxious daughter in the moments before she rode down a quarter-pipe for the first time.
“My daughter overcoming her fear in real time (wait for it),” Hawk, 50, wrote on Twitter. “I might have been more nervous than she was.”
As Kadence hesitates to ride down the ramp, Hawk gives her directions and takes her hand as she places both feet on the board. Finally, after what must have several seconds that must have felt like an eternity for the young skateboarder, Kadence successfully drops in down the ramp — and Hawk screams with excitement.
“Woo! Come here!” he’s heard yelling as he stretches his arms for a hug.
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The video has received nearly 14 million views on Twitter, and many parents wrote back to Hawk to share their memories of trying to hide their own fears when their children take on something new.
“Probably the most difficult and crucial thing of parenting: avoiding to transmit our fears and help them overcome their own,” wrote one user.
Others had their own skateboarding-related stories as well.
“What a #mightygirl your daughter is!” another user wrote to Hawk. “I remember the exact moment [my daughter] did the same and my heart beats crazily for you!”
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Hawk has shared many personal moments to his millions of followers on social media, including when he posted a photo of himself holding his mother Nancy Hawk’s hand on Instagram in September.
“She has 93 years of life behind her, but the last ten have been increasingly corrupted by Alzheimer’s and dementia,” Hawk wrote in the emotional post. “When I see her now, she doesn’t recognize me. Sometimes there is a slight glimmer in her eye, sometimes she babbles incoherently, and sometimes she uncontrollably bursts into tears.”
The legendary skateboarder also has three other children, Riley Hawk, 26, Spencer Hawk, 19, and Keegan Hawk, 17.