My husband is one of those dads who gets on the floor, rolls around with his kids, has massive amounts of energy, and lots of endurance.
Kids gravitate toward him--- kids of all ages.
We were just at a birthday party for a 3 year old girl and everyone was jumping in a huge bounce house. Seth entered and within 5 minutes all the kids were all over him. Jumping on him, saying, "get me! get me!", laughing, even hugging him. (By the way, our 3 year old does NOT appreciate sharing her Daddy.)
I watched all of this for over 20 minutes with a smile on my face and then suddenly felt a little sad. It made me wonder if it meant that they didn't get a lot of attention from their dads-- or at least physical attention.
I grew up without a dad and did a brief research project in college on daughters who grow up without dads--- there was not much out there at the time--but one study struck me: that daughters who don't experience the roughhousing/play of a father grow up with emotions more out of balance.
To be fair, I did see two other dads go in and play with their kids in there (though those weren't the kids flocking to Seth), and I am sure some were working today.
I am wondering if playing with their kids might be the single most important duty in the job description of "Dad".
Still thinking about it all, but wanted to share.
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