“This Generation of Dads”: Dad Makes Deal With Daughter — a Tea Party for a Mountain Bike Ride

A dad who made a deal with his young daughter is going viral on TikTok.

Uploaded to Madison Mealy's (@madisonmealy) account, the clip begins with a dad sitting in his car, with his child strapped into a car seat behind him.

He proposes an exchange: one mountain bike ride for a princess tea party. Here's what their conversation looked like...

Dad: Hey Nora.

Nora: What?

Dad: Can we make a deal?

Nora: Yeah.

Dad: If you go on your first mountain bike ride with me today, I'll have a tea party with you.

Nora: [gasping with excitement] A princess tea party? Thank you, Dad!

At this point in the video the child extends her hand to slap her father five.

Dad: Okay should we go?

Nora: Yeah.

Dad: Let's go!

Nora: Okay... [she waits a beat, wondering why they aren't hitting the road yet] So, start driving.

Dad: Okay, okay, okay.

The video then cuts to her dad crouching down and helping his daughter put her helmet on, fastening the clasps underneath her neck. He then taps the top of her helmet. "Look up to the sky," he tells her.

She then asks him to do the same, and mimics his motions, tapping the top of his helmet as well after ensuring it was safely secured on his noggin.

The video then transitions to a close-up shot of his daughter's face as the two of them sit on top of the mountain bike together.

"Are you ready?" he asks her.

"Mhmm," she says before dad announces, "okay let's go."

They hit a little bit of a dip on the ground and he says, "Whoa, bumpy."

She repeats, "Bumpy," while smiling upon hitting the dip.

On the ride, she took a moment to appreciate nature. "So many flowers," she says as her father pedals the two of them around. "Wow! Fast!" she says, wind whipping through her hair.

"Dada! This is so fun!" she exclaims.

Then, it was time for Dad to make good on his promise — the clip cuts to him parking the bike on the outside of his truck. "Time for a tea party?"

"Mhmm," she says before the video transitions to the two of them sitting on a blanket in a bucolic scene.

Father and daughter enjoy a tea party in a grassy meadow as she serves him a cup of tea. "Thank you," he tells her as they simultaneously knock their heads back to enjoy their tea.

"This is so lovely," she remarks.

"Would you like a roll, Princess?" dad asks, offering up the treat to his daughter.

"Thank you, Prince," she replies.

"Cheers," she says, bringing her lollipop up to his as they make a toast.

"Good lollipops," Dad says as he nods his head.

"Mhmm," she agrees, also nodding.

One commenter, touched by the dad's willingness to engage in playtime with his daughter while ensuring she gets to partake in an activity he also enjoys safely, commented: "This generation of dads is seriously redefining fatherhood."

And while there's a lot to criticize about millennial dads — like not being as sufficient at DIY skills as compared to previous generations, something that this Quora user says (as a boomer himself) growing up in an area where he was exposed to environments that fostered that kind of hands-on working experience — there are others who believe that millennial dads have a leg up when compared to other generations of fathers.

The Every Mom penned an article titled "What Millennial Dads Are Doing Better Than Previous Generations" delineating that they are actually "spending more time with their kids" than any other generation of parents.

The Super Church blog penned a post, from the perspective of a millennial father, who wrote how every dad he knew of his age group played an active part in their child's lives, and he even went so far as to say that millennial fathers "are the worst at neglecting their kids."

Another outlet went as far to say that millennial fathers spend as much as three times "as much time with their kids than previous generations," citing a statistic from 1982 in which 43 percent of dads said they hadn't changed a diaper, with that statistic dropping down to around 3 percent in more recent years — which is great because of research indicating that father-child relationships become stronger the more that dads take care of their kids.

For another TikToker who responded to Mealy's post, all they had to say was that they felt the little girl's papa was doing a fantastic job: "This is an awesome dad."