For Dads: Play Catch with Your Baby!
Sometimes being a dad can feel pointless, right? Baby wants mom for comfort, and mom for feeding. And it’s often true that mom has a better sense of what baby needs, or a way she prefers doing baby things.
That can make a guy feel left over.
Saying, “Oh, you’re so important to your baby,” is true! But might feel like empty words. So I’m going to tell you how to do the classic dad thing: Play catch.
Obviously babies have terrible hand-eye coordination and can’t catch a ball. So here’s what you do. Set your baby a foot or so away from you (prop them up with pillows if they can’t sit on their own), choose a large ball (bigger than a baseball, smaller than a basketball), and roll it across the floor to them. Chances are, their instincts will kick in, and they’ll plant both hands (and their face) on it. Then you’ll have to rescue the ball, and roll it again. You’re playing catch!
As you do this, baby will develop the coordination to catch the ball as it comes toward them. And they’ll learn how to roll it back. By one, you should be able to roll it back and forth. Around two, you can move to “tossing” the ball underhand, dropping it directly into their outstretched hands. And from there it’s all about practicing, laughing together when the ball is dropped, and slowly working your way up to real catch.
Dad, you’re so important to your baby, even though it takes a while for that to be obvious. You’re going to do great.
The Discovery Box Team
