Stranger who called a young girl 'bossy' stands baffled as her dad comes over to thank him

"Oh, she's very bossy," is the opening line for one of @thecinematicdad's videos. He is a father of two little girls who enjoys filming everyday content. On March 26, he shared one statement a stranger said about his younger daughter. When she called his daughter "bossy," he did not correct her, did not pause to think, but just agreed.

"In one second, I took a stranger's word for who my daughter is. I didn't correct her; I just accepted it," he said. Recently, he had an epiphany and understood that "bossy" does not have to carry the negative connotation people usually associate with it.

He explained why people perceived his daughter as bossy. Even though she is just a toddler, she tends to choose the games she and her friends play. She would pick the story he would read to her at night, and tell her mother the exact way she wanted her hair to be styled. His daughter may be young, but she has always known what she wants, and "she makes it happen."

He admitted that he has called her "bossy" in the past as well but wants to correct himself. His eyes are open now, and he truly sees his daughter's personality. "I called her bossy. What I should've called it is practice." He is reframing his daughter's behavior from negative to positive, trying to help her assert space in a world where women are taught to shrink.

Instead of just seeing her behavior as bossy, he chose to look at her as she is practicing leadership, practicing decision-making, and practicing expressing herself. He knows the world can be a cruel place, and once she grows up, it will try to suppress her and make her feel little, which is why he made the conscious decision of being the one who accepts her the way she is.

He was "the first to fold," he admits, but not anymore. "Now, when they call her bossy, I just say, thank you," he ends the video.

In other words, she is also learning how to become assertive by expressing what she wants and needs from her friends and family. Being assertive also means having an opinion and expressing one's feelings. It allows one to disagree respectfully while offering ideas and suggestions. Confident people make friends more easily and sort out disagreements smoothly.

A study analyzed four types of parenting styles to learn which one helps adolescents develop self-assertiveness skills. The four types of parenting styles are authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful. Out of these, the study showed that authoritative parenting is the "most effective" style to raise assertive teens.

Over 30.3k people have liked the video, and several parents have shared stories of their own confident kids. Others commended the little girl for her assertiveness at such a young age. @david_hunt wrote, "My little girl is just like this. To be successful in life, you need to be brave enough to tell the world what you want and be brave enough to ask. Life doesn’t reward quiet politeness. It rewards people to ask."

Girl dads also assembled in the comments, appreciating the way he shared his daughter's story. @morningcoffeerun commented, "Oh mate, this is so good. I felt it deeply, so from one girl dad to another, thank you."

You can follow @thecinematicdad for more such parenting content.

More on Scoop Upworthy

Daughter covers her dad’s arms in stickers — each one with a special meaning. Now he refuses to take them off, even for work meetings

'Non-strict dad' responds to daughter's hypothetical scenarios in the most 'excellent parent' way

Daughter says she'll never settle in life after learning reason why her dad carried her bike for 2 miles