You may have a great relationship with your child(ren)'s mother or you may not. But you should always respect her. Why? Well, there may be many reasons but here's one: She gave you your child (whom I'm assuming that you, like me, consider your greatest treasure). Now let's look at the basic math here:

Your male contribution to the birth of your child:

Pre-conception: 5-15 minutes of fun (orgasm achieved—woo hoo!).

Her female contribution to the birth of your child:

Pre-conception: 5-15 minutes of possible fun (may or may not have orgasmed—huh?)

+ PLUS +
Conception to birth: 15,960 minutes (average length is 266 days) of:
- body changes/upheaval,
- sleepless nights,
- backaches,
- hormonal changes,
- mood swings,
- immediate attachment to the child from the moment she knows she's pregnant, which comes with constant vigilance and worry about the child's well-being,
- nausea,
- weight gain,
- taking all kinds of vitamins and supplements,
- OB/GYN examinations,
- carrying an actual moving, living being inside her womb,
- culminating in hours and hours of labor (yikes!),
- and then finally having a full human exit her body through a very small opening,
- AND a full willingness to go through all of that for YOU and YOUR child. Seriously, what man in his right mind would not give some serious and sincere due props for that?!

All that is for just ONE child. If you have more than one child then multiply the above accordingly. For me, my wife has given me four children which means her birth to conception grand total is 63,840 minutes to my contribution of 20-60 minutes. There's nothing for me or any father to feel bad about or guilty that we didn't contribute more to the creation of your child(ren) — that's just all we can do. But, there is clearly a LOT for us to be grateful for and I sure hope the mother of your children knows how much you appreciate her sacrifice for your treasures.

PS: It's been 11 years since the birth of our last child and I'm still in awe of the above numbers.