Want to bring up a caring child?

New research published in Developmental Science has discovered that dancing (or at least bouncing) with your toddler can make them kinder – as long as you are dancing in time with them.

In the experiment, which looked at the behaviour of 48 14-month-old children, participants who bopped in synchrony with their baby found that their little one kindly picked up an object dropped 'accidentally' later, but those babies who didn’t get to bounce along in time with the adult weren’t likely to be as helpful.

Interestingly, adults who move together to the same beat as opposed to asynchronously are also more likely to display prosocial behaviour toward each other.

Photograph: iStock