Fathers’ perception on their roles and involvements in physical play with their children (birth to age 3) during Covid 19

Abstract

Father-child physical play has many positive effects on the life of children. There are physical, social, emotional, and cognitive developments that a child gains through this. A parent is commonly an infant's first playmate but children enjoy more when they get their father as a play partner. So, the father’s role and involvement have significant impacts. It has been found on previous research about mother-child interaction however little studies on father-child physical play (Amodia-Bidakowska, Laverty, & Ramchandani, 2020). In this study, fathers’ perceptions about their roles and involvements in physical play with their children from birth to age three were attempted to be explored. Also, the crucial influence of the covid 19 scenario had taken into account. Six participants had been chosen to participate in the study. In-depth interviews and observation methods were used for data collection. It has been found that fathers were eager to engage in physical play with their children. It has been found out that fathers were found in engaged in different activities with their children but it is not always to be physical play though they were found eager to engage with their children in physical play but they also shared their challenges of having less time to spend with their children and family support has been found as one of the indicators for fathers to engage more in all activities including physical play.