I'm going to be an aunt any day now since my younger sister is expecting her first child. I know they will be great parents and that my brother-in-law is especially determined to be a very involved dad. He has emailed us every ultrasound image and has already assembled the swing I bought them! When I saw this excellent feature on Gen X Dads in the Boston Globe, I thought about him and them and how there really is an evolving definition of fatherhood and a determination amongst many men in my generation to be more involved in their children's lives and not "absent." The article argues that the tide began to turn slightly with some more enlightened Boomers and that the desire to be more than a "stick figure" dad has increased with Xers. I can only imagine what Gen Y dads will be like. The article also pointed to how Gen X dads are now struggling with what many working mothers have always experienced: guilt, exhaustion, and how to juggle a demanding job and be a great parent. Here is one of the striking stats from the piece:

"According to research from the Families and Work Institute in New York, a nonprofit that tracks trends in family life, fathers in 2002 spent 2.7 hours each workday caring for children, almost an hour more than fathers in 1977. That reflects a 50 percent increase in male participation."

Also check out the day in the life of a working couple photo gallery…

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