Male cat behavior around kittens?

What's normal behavior for a male cat around kittens? Our fosters are all nice and healthy, as are our adult cats (just got their yearly shots last week too!) so we've started to let them interact a little bit. Phoebe wants nothing to do with them but Escher seems to be "baby-sitting" them. He'll sit next to their cage when they're in there and watch them, right next to the cage. Yesterday, when the kittens were out playing on the cat tree, we let Escher in the room, he jumped up to the second level of the cat tree and when one of the kittens would come near, he'd start licking/grooming them. He'll gently wrestle with the 2 older ones, and is VERY sweet with the younger ones. Is this normal? Or is our male cat a little weird?

He sounds like a real sweetie. Bless him he just wants to make sure these babies are ok.

my 11 month old male is a real sweetie with our kittens his like a daddy with them (his neutered btw) his not there dad lol. with our 12 week old he will play fight and so on , with the 6 week olds he will grom them and let them jump all over him.
isnt it the sweetest thing?

It is different in many ways,I grew up on a farm,and when the females had kittens,If we did not bring them into the house they would be killed by males.

In my area,Male cats even kill the grown females.

But my ol Louie was such a gentleman around the last batch of kittens i had he would lick them and even lay with them,Mind you he was a 15 year old neuterd male,He was such a love bug he passed last year,Peacfully under my plum tree,He would never leave the yard he would just go out to lay in the sun and come back in.

My suggestion to you is never leave a male cat unnatended,Even Louie i always made sure you really never know right.

Better safe than sorry.

Of course, no worries about us leaving him unattended. We only let him in there if both of us are in there! Other than that the only interaction he has with them is through the cage bars, but he usually just sits there and watchs them, and talks to them too! They go back today and I'm worried he's going to be depressed when they leave!

Escher sounds like a sweetheart. My Gizmo (a male cat) became a 2nd mum to kittens last year. He was very sweet with them..groomed them and let them nurse off him once in a while lol

my Rambo boy is kind of like that. When he first meets the kittens he's so curious but a little afraid of them. I think he's not sure how to handle them. In no time though they are curled up with him or tracking him down for nap time. He lets them snuggle and even one time he let Daisy (foster) knead and suckle on his belly. He just sighed and looked at me like "why are you doing this to me meowmy!".