Children Who Get More Playtime With Their Dads Learn Faster, Study Finds

It has been proven that in the first 4 months of parenting, fathers experienced growth in parts of the brain involved in parental motivation. The change occurs for both dads and babies, who, thanks to their father’s presence and playfulness learn how to manage their emotions. And as it turned out they’re learning skills.

Bright Side would like to guide you through this study, which has allowed us to give all the fathers in the world the appreciation they deserve.

The first few months are very important.

From the first weeks, babies start to learn how to think, imagine, and learn about the things around them. The learning process is called cognitive development and it happens right in front of your eyes. A father highly contributes to this process, and the best way to help is to be involved from the beginning.

By the age of 2, babies were tested by seeing if they recognized colors and shapes.

A study was conducted by the team from Imperial College London, King’s College London, and Oxford University. The researchers videoed fathers playing with their 3-month-old babies for 3 minutes on a mat on the floor, without toys, and videoed them again during a book-reading session after the child turned 2 years old.

They noticed that the babies who experienced a strong engagement with their fathers at the age of 3 months were able to score well on tests by the age of 2, like recognizing shapes and colors. Compared to babies who experienced withdraws from their fathers.

Reading activities are great for toddlers.

In addition to the primary results and discussions, it was announced that reading activities are beneficial for attention, problem-solving, and language. Hence, fathers who’ve taken the time to read to their children since an early age, in a calm and sensitive way, contributed to their cognitive development.

A dad’s interaction with his infant can also impact a child’s social behavior.

Thanks to this study we discovered that a child’s social behavior is influenced by the father-child interaction. To be present in your child’s life, maybe a play session in the backyard or indoor challenges can help your child interact with the outside world and become more active.

Do you believe babies’ cognitive behaviors are influenced by their relationship with their dad? Or do you think that maternal-child interactions are the most important part of early development?

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