Men always have been interested in their children's growth and shaped their march to maturity. But the society that cast them as family bread winners did not expect much more from them. Women saw to children's personal needs and taught them the social conventions. Men were the ultimate authority, the disciplinarians. Now more often than not, both parents share responsibilities.
Men help run the home front while women work outside the home.
Moreover, when both parents work it is difficult to raise children sensibly and sensitively without the full participation of both adults. On one level it seems a shame that we honor mothers in one month and fathers in the next. The cynic might argue that separate celebrations are driven by the chance to sell twice as many gifts and cards. But there is a more compelling reason. Men and women, fathers and mothers, bring different skills and different mental frameworks to marriage and parenthood.