How can fathers bond with kids?

Researchers have found that fathers who spend lots of time helping out with childcare-related tasks on holidays develop stronger relationships with their kids.

The study reveals that both types of involvement – caregiving versus play – and the timing – workday versus non-workday – have an impact on the quality of the early father-child relationship.

For this study, the research team worked with 80 father-child pairs when the children were about 3 years old and conducted interviews and observed father-child interaction in the home, shooting video that was evaluated off-site and assigned a score indicating attachment security.

The team of researchers found that fathers who choose to spend time with their children on non-workdays are developing a stronger relationship with them.

However, fathers who spend lots of time helping out with childcare-related tasks on workdays are developing the best relationships with their children.

Men who engage in high levels of play with their children on workdays actually have a slightly less secure attachment relationship with them, revealed the recently conducted study.

According to the researchers involved in the study, in early childhood, the most common way to conceptualise the parent-child relationship is the attachment

relationship.