So grown up: China boy, 10, stands in for dead father at parent-child nursery school sports day, brings joy to little sister
- Proud mum says son worked incredibly hard to compete, help sister win
- Father died two years ago, leaving mother alone as caregiver for in-laws
A thoughtful 10-year-old boy in China who played the role his late father would have for his sister, 6, on sports day at her kindergarten, has touched mainland social media.
Video clips of the boy participating in a father-child event with his sister went viral after their mother, surnamed Xu, posted them on December 23.
Their father died of leukaemia two years ago, and while Xu told her son shortly after his death, she felt her little daughter was too young to understand.
Instead, she told the girl her father was sent to work in Shanghai, while the rest of the family must continue living in their hometown in eastern China’s Anhui province.
Xu, a primary school teacher, has been a lone parent to her two children and also a caregiver for her late husband’s parents for the past two years.
The proud mother said her son worked incredibly hard at the sports’ day to help his sister win the events.
“You have a dad. I have a brother,” the sister told her classmates, provoking an outpouring of emotion on social media.
“I was moved to tears,” one person on Douyin wrote.
“The boy has given all his strength and love to his sister. She is not short of love, despite having no dad,” said another.
A third person said schools should take into account different family set ups in such situations.
“Events that require parents to attend could upset children of single parents, or those whose parents work far away,” she said.
In September, online observers were moved by a boy, 8, who tied himself to his little sister, 3, with toy string while waiting for their abused mother to have a medical check-up at a hospital in southwest China’s Yunnan province.
Before their mother left, she asked the boy to look after his sister, who had fallen asleep on a bench, because she was worried she might be abducted.
The tired boy also fell asleep but kept a tight hold on the toy string attached to his sibling’s wrist.
In December, another touching incident that moved many happened in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu following the 6.2-magnitude earthquake, when a girl, 10, was seen feeding her unwell brother, 3, before eating anything herself.
