A recent survey suggests nearly three quarters of dads spend less than two hours a day with their kids. They have to cope with the associated guilt, on top of an ever increasing work load - longer hours are kicking in as the credit crunch affects family life more and more.
Tony, 32, can talk all day about the pressures on him from all sides to be the perfect dad and at the same time keep to performance targets at work. He says he feels he hardly sees his three youngsters; Sarah, eighteen months, Catherine, 4, and Stephen aged 7. ''I work a mix of early and late shifts, so half the time I don't even know what day it is.''
Tony tries to make the most of his limited free time with the children. Rather than struggling to do big days out with them, and feeling a failure when work means cancelling, he makes sure he cooks and eats with them wherever possible, plays the games they love and talks and listens to them as much as possible, so they feel their time with him, even if limited, is special and theirs alone.
He boosts his bond with his children by picking them up from school whenever possible and simply spending time with them, like kicking a ball about or walking the dog, rather than worrying about providing big style entertainment.
He remembers how he was always being promised stuff by his dad which never happened, and is keen for his children not to feel the same disappointment, so he keeps his plans simple so as not to let them down.
Feeling relaxed in each others' company is the biggest benefit of this approach, he feels. ''In the end, kids don't care where they are, as long as they're with you,'' he adds.
