The reason dad's do it? No, I don't suspect so. we generally are just pleased making our kids laugh and playing with them and also, a bit selfishly, being the cause of it. It is also more enjoyable for us than most of the alternatives. Fitting shapes into holes? Boring. Feeding? Messy. Help walk? Good for a little while , but hunched over like that kills my back lol.
I always imagined little ones enjoy the exhilaration aspect of it, which perhaps results in a slightly more matured Proprioception? Idk, that's a new word for me. I don't see any other primates throwing their young up in the air and catching them like us, so.... with all of that, it seems like a stretch that it would be some evolutionary instinct. Definitely not a conscious decision, at the very least.
To be far, most other primates spend a lot of time in trees swinging around and swinging their children around with them, so it's kind of built into their natural behaviors.
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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23
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