Sorry, Carol. My memory seems to have eluded me a bit. Thanks for the correction.
However, I don't think that visiting with children makes one an expert on them. When I lived at home with my parents my niece and nephew often came to visit, and it was quite a close family relationship. I had to keep reminding myself that I was just their uncle and not their parent. Lewis was a step parent for only seven years, and in the last year his health declined, which probably limited the amount of time he could spend with the boys. Is a step parent as good as a natural parent even though the biological relationship is missing? He almost certainly was a better father than the boys' natural father. But he must have seemed like an amateur (maybe a bit awkward with children).
Of course he didn't have to be a Dr. Benjamin Spock to write the Narnia books. The characterizations of the four children are really quite good for someone who had been bachelor for many years without knowing much of what it's like to be a parent. Most of what is in the Narnia stories existed long before Lewis' adopted parenthood. I am a single bachelor and don't claim to be an expert on family relationships, either. These are just observations from what I read about Lewis and from his own books. One of the best books on Lewis' life with Joy and the beginning of their family (which ended prematurely) is
Through the Shadowlands by Brian Sibley. It is mostly about his hardship with Joy's illness and death, but it also describes how the children and Warnie were affected by that tragedy.
Larry W.