Some things one does with one's children when they are small can't be replaced. We used to have a ritual called "Climb on Daddy Time." This involved various kinds of horseplay, such as lifting a girl in the air with my feet and various kinds of assisted somersaults. For this particular purpose, it was a good thing they were small for their ages.CODT went on for quite awhile, until they got too big.
It always ended with a "camel ride" in which both girls would mount on my back and I would carry them around the room till I collapsed. In this picture, Zoë is 6 or 7, and Katharine 4 or 5. (The date is probably on the back, but it's framed).
There are things fathers do that mothers mostly don't. The absence of a father is clearly survivable, but I think a girl's view of the world of men has to be different, if she never got to climb on Daddy.
Camel ride picture credit: Voyageurs' India.
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