There may not be paid paternity leave in most companies, but the stay-at-home dad is becoming more and more common in society.

Andreas Wilderer, author of Lean On: The Five Pillars Of Support For Women In Leadership, is a stay at home dad, and is an expert in letting people know how being a stay-at-home dad can benefit  the children, provide added support to a wife with a demanding career, and ultimately help make the marriage better.

“It’s incumbent on stay-at-home dads to step up to the caregiving role in the same devoted way that their wives do as the financial provider,” says Wilderer (www.andreaswilderer.com), who chose to be a stay-at-home dad while his wife pursued a growing career. “Men can get over the stigma often attached to being a stay-at-home father by looking beyond their own interests and thinking of the greater good of their family and their marriage. Both the family and marriage can prosper when a man embraces the loving sacrifice and takes pride in his expanded household role.”

While it’s not unusual for women to be the main breadwinner in their family, an increasing number of dads are staying home as the primary caregiver for the children. To make that arrangement successful, Wilderer says, it’s important that the mutual respect at the foundation of the marriage extends into respect for the new and expanded roles of each partner.

“Loving partners bestow the gift of self-reliance generously on each other,” Wilderer says. “Each must be willing to step back, patiently and respectfully, to allow the other to build a sense of pride in a job well done.”