Jeanean Thomas is the mother to a 6 year-old girl named Peyton, who had wanted to skateboard for months. When they got to their local skate park and saw that it was full of teenage boys, however, both Jeanean and Peyton got nervous.

“Mom, it’s full of older boys,” Peyton whispered nervously to her mom, who saw that the boys were “smoking and swearing.” This caused her to want to take her daughter and go home at first.

“I didn’t want to have to put on my mom voice and exchange words with you,” the mother later wrote in an open letter to one of the boys. “[But] 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 as much as you were.”

That’s why Jeanean encouraged Peyton to get out there and skate anyway. The boys just zoomed by her initially, but then one stopped and walked straight up to her. Just when Jeanean was ready to get protective of Peyton, she heard the boy say, “Hey, excuse me… Your feet are wrong. Can I help you?”

Dear teenage boy at the skate park… pic.twitter.com/78ry5esoTa

— Jeanean Thomas (@JeaneanThomas) October 11, 2015

“You proceeded to spend almost an hour with my daughter, showing her how to balance and steer. You held her hand and helped her get up when she fell down,” Jeanean wrote in her letter. “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.”