Mom’s and dads are different. Moms are emotional, dads are physical. You know, Venus and Mars. More evidence: The flying baby video that’s gone viral recently. That’s no mamma swingin’ the baby.
As an obviously phony work of video creativity, perhaps I’m spared as a baby doctor from telling the broadcast audience what’s painfully obvious: Don’t try this at home. Earlier this video had been available on YouTube but an apparent crisis of conscience has rendered the clip unavailable. Probably a good idea. I’m concerned that the imbeciles who spend their days trolling web videos would actually think that the smiling, gurgling baby depicted at the end serves as endorsement of its safety. All this carries the danger of Jackass, only for dads.
True confessions: As a baby I would throw my son into the air and catch him on the way down. While he seemed to enjoy it the real sport came with mom’s reaction.  Never caught on video.  And never dramatic enough to go viral.
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I’ve got the same confession. My oldest son loved getting thrown into the air, and I’ve got pics to prove it. He’d jump off stuff just to get air time. Fortunately I was always paying attention when he jumped.
One time, I was hucking the younger one during the older one’s soccer game. He was laughing and loving it, etc. Another dad walked up and told me that he had a friend that used to do that. Friend missed the catch once. Kid was paralyzed for life.
I was kinda grumpy at first that the other dad was such a buzzkill. But obviously his story stuck with me. I still huck the kids into the air though (mom doesn’t mind), just not in public places.
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I’ve got the same confession. My oldest son loved getting thrown into the air, and I’ve got pics to prove it. He’d jump off stuff just to get air time. Fortunately I was always paying attention when he jumped.
One time, I was hucking the younger one during the older one’s soccer game. He was laughing and loving it, etc. Another dad walked up and told me that he had a friend that used to do that. Friend missed the catch once. Kid was paralyzed for life.
I was kinda grumpy at first that the other dad was such a buzzkill. But obviously his story stuck with me. I still huck the kids into the air though (mom doesn’t mind), just not in public places.
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Not to this extent, but I’ve done the same things. Small throws up in the air, and the big swings we do outside. I don’t know what to make of this video. I don’t think it’s fake, I think maybe the dad is a performer of some kind so he knows what you can and can’t do. Kid seemed to be having fun and you can usually tell when they start feeling panicked or upset. I wouldn’t do it and I’m sure the dad is a great guy. I know it’s jaded, but at least he’s spending time with his kid.
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Not to this extent, but I’ve done the same things. Small throws up in the air, and the big swings we do outside. I don’t know what to make of this video. I don’t think it’s fake, I think maybe the dad is a performer of some kind so he knows what you can and can’t do. Kid seemed to be having fun and you can usually tell when they start feeling panicked or upset. I wouldn’t do it and I’m sure the dad is a great guy. I know it’s jaded, but at least he’s spending time with his kid.