Fathers today are becoming more and more involved in the dad to day lives of their children. From the supermarket to the park from preschool through high school all throughout America it is common to see dad's as an active, contributing, involved parent. When today's "Men's Movement" asks how are men really changing? I tell them look at fathers, they are leading the way.

Much of the current research validates that dads being involved helps their children grow psychologically and socially. I don't think the men are in it just for the good of their children. From my work over the last 15 years with new and expectant fathers; I see they are in it for themselves. Yes, dads feel the desire, the need, for his own growth and development to be able to be involved in the daily life of his children right from the start.

The current "State of the Father" reflects two themes as a legacy of the post-Industrial revolutions. These dual motifs were eloquently expressed by the anthropologist Margaret Mead and Ashley Montagu.

Margaret Mead said, "Men are a biological necessity and a social inconvenience." This sort of says-it-all about the generation of fathers who are our forebears from the post industrial times till about the 1970's. Dad was not seen as part of the household but limited to the role of the "breadwinner" and disciplinarian. Men were not seen as having the social skills to be warm, nurturing, attachment figures. Dad was an outsider to the daily life of his children. And in many ways this generation of fathers has inspired the next, who have learned from their losses, and want to be more available to their own children. Perhaps as a way to recover from their own feelings about their distant dads.

Anthropologist Ashley Montagu argued for complete equality between men and women. He said of fathers, "When men abandon the upbringing of their children to their wives, a loss is suffered by everyone, but perhaps most of all by themselves. For what they lose is the possibility of growth in themselves for being human which the stimulation of bring up one's children gives." It is Montagu's reflection that my clinical observations and research confirm. Men are becoming emotionally richer by parenting their children.

The political and cultural shift toward gender equality and the development of the woman's movement has significantly effected the role of men as fathers. In fact as women worked for equality in the world outside the home, men were desiring to make changes too, within the home.

Current psychological thinking is now shifting its focus from the mother-infant relations as the sole and primary influence on the child's mental health. Much research is now going into redressing the imbalance of burdening women with the total responsibility for the emotional lives of their families. We now see research developing in parenthood that equally address the role of both men and women, father and mother as co-equal influences on the emotional development and well being of their children.

So from our mixed past as men as a biological necessity, a "breadwinner" and disciplinarian to our new future of a more human, warmer, nurturing man, a father who can travel both between the world of work and the world of the home. A father who can stimulate the imagination of his children, a father who is patient and thoughtful about life's tasks. A new definition of men's lives becomes possible as we elevate the status of fatherhood.

And so the current "State of the Father" appears to be quite a positive for men, women and children as well as the world-at-large. But for all these social changes the true reflection of the involved nurturing father will be his children lives.

Will the world be a better place because of their father's involvement? Because of what we, their fathers have contributed in our parenting, will they approach this time of post modern globalization and all it difficulties and injustices with tolerance, fairness, open mindedness and compassion? Will they be able to craft a more caring a more inclusive and peaceful world then the one we have today?

I vote a resounding yes! And I wish for all fathers today, a moment of refection on not just the "Hallmark" quality of the day, but to truly appreciate how you, by loving and participating in your child's life may be changing the world.