"Men today are far more involved with their families than they have been at virtually any other time in the last century," says Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America: A Cultural History. In the late '70s, sociologists found the average dad spent about a third as much time with his kids as the average mom did. By '00, that was up to three-fourths. The number of stay-at-home fathers has tripled in the past ten years. The Census counts less than 200,000, but those studying the phenomenon say it's probably 10 times that number. Fathers' style of parenting has changed, too. Men hug their kids more, help with homework more, tell kids they love them more. Or, as sociologist Scott Coltrane of the University of California, Riverside, says, "Fathers are beginning to look more like mothers." (Time 10/4/07)