The Crucial Role of Play in Child Development and Bonding with Fathers

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Playing with children is critical for their development and building bonds. Fathers engage in physical activities like wrestling and tickling, which teaches children about reciprocity and social relationships. It involves fun and empathy, while also assessing risk and building resilience. This relationship with the father is crucial for a child's mental health in adolescence.

Dr Anna Machin is an evolutionary anthropologist at Oxford University, a researcher into the role of fatherhood across time and an author.

The modern world has made dads surplus to requirements in many ways. The deadbeat dad is such a meme in sitcoms and cartoons now that it's no surprise men don't feel they have a role in child rearing. But just how important are fathers to the development of boys and girls? And what don't we know about their impact?

Expect to learn how fathers saved the human race when babies heads got too big, whether it's normal for dads to not feel love for their baby when it's born, the most important ways dads can bond with their kids, whether dads are more important to girls' or boys' development, what pushback Anna got for writing a pro-father book and much more...

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