Don’t judge me – but I can’t stand playing with my toddler

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. It’s not that I don’t think play is important: I’ve read the latest research that tells me that repetitive play “has many functions” in childhood development – and that brain wiring is actually made possible by repetition. Researchers at Cardiff University conducted the world’s first neuroscience study of doll play, and found that even playing with dolls alone can aid the development of key skills such as empathy and social information processing. It turns out that there is a biological reason that I don’t enjoy playing as much as my partner, and it’s all down to the glorious “cuddle hormone”, oxytocin. My partner seems as overjoyed as my son when he’s throwing him up in the air, or leaping about on the bed – and this might be the reason why: a father and his child get a peak in oxytocin from playing with each other – and this is why dads can seem to prefer playing to caretaking, and children preferentially seek them out as play partners.