Little Girl Waits By The Window For Her Dad To Pick Her Up After He Promised To Be There In An Hour — He Never Shows
A parent's absence is never the child's fault, even if it feels that way.
fizkes / Shutterstock When parents split up, it affects family dynamics in a way that can echo from someone’s childhood into adulthood.
Our understanding of how to trust others and our level of emotional safety is rooted in how our parents related to us during our foundational years. People with inconsistent parents, like this trending little girl, are more likely to develop an anxious attachment style.
The little girl waited by the window for her dad to pick her up after promising to be there, but he never showed up.
A viral photo of the young girl made the rounds on X. The post captured a conversation between a mom and her daughter’s father, who she saved in her phone as “Sperm Donor,” which seems to describe how shallow the connection she has with him is.
The unnamed mom sent a photo of her daughter sitting in a chair by the door, presumably waiting for her father to show up.
“Did you tell her you were picking her up?” read the accompanying text.
The girl’s father replied, “I told her to give me an hour; I’m coming from far.”
The mom’s next question highlighted how little she seemed to depend on her ex’s reliability. “Are you for sure? Let me know so I can fix her hair,” she wrote. “And next time, please let me know before you tell her anything.”
The dad didn’t respond.
Bruce Stanfield / Shutterstock
The mom sent a follow-up text at 8:51 p.m., saying, “You got her crying once again, bro. I don’t know why you tell her anything at all.”
Five days later, the dad texted back, not to acknowledge that he had disappointed his daughter by not showing up when he said he would but to ask the mom to give him money.
“Send me $10 on CashApp, lol,” his text read.
The text exchange hits hard for people with an inconsistent or unavailable parent, who have learned over the years to temper their expectations and tamp down their emotions when it comes to having that parent show up for them.
Having an absent or distant parent can result in an anxious attachment style, affecting the relationships you develop later in life.
Other root causes of an anxious attachment include not feeling safe to express your emotions while growing up, feeling alone or abandoned in childhood, or being raised by a parent who had their own attachment struggles.
The effects of having parents who don’t show up are vast, especially as children grow up and enter into romantic relationships.
People with parents who were physically or emotionally absent tend to gravitate toward partners who aren’t emotionally available, thus recreating the patterns they went through in childhood.
Therapist Alexia McLeod spoke directly to parents who’ve been estranged from their children, explaining that if they’ve chosen to reestablish a relationship, “It is important that you recognize that your child may or may not be ready.”
“There’s certain expectations that both parties are gonna have on both sides, and the reality is that your absence did make a difference, for whatever reason that absence was,” she said. “You have to take your time as a parent to see how this affected your child.”
Content creator James Horton Kofoed shared a post with an interesting and thought-provoking way to reframe thinking about absent parents, noting, “Sometimes, an absent parent is a blessing in disguise because the demons they carry can inflict more pain than their absence.”
For anyone whose parents have been less than available, it’s important to remember that their absence was never your fault. You hold value and are loved for exactly who you are, even if they couldn’t show up for you.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture, and everything about the entertainment industry.