A stay-at-home dad (alternatively, full-time father, stay-at-home father, house dad) is a father who is the main caregiver of the children and is generally the homemaker of the household. The female equivalent is the stay-at home-mom or housewife. As families have evolved, the practice of being a stay-at-home dad has become more common and socially acceptable. Pre-industrialization, the family worked together as a unit and was self-sufficient. When affection-based marriages emerged in the 1830s, parents began devoting more attention to children and family relationships became more open. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution, mass production replaced the manufacturing of home goods; this shift, coupled with prevailing norms governing sex or gender roles, dictated that the man become the breadwinner and the mother the caregiver of their children.

In the late 20th century, the number of stay-at-home dads began gradually increasing especially in developed Western nations. The role of househusband became more socially acceptable by the 2000s, though the role is subject to many stereotypes, and men may have difficulties accessing parenting benefits, communities, and services targeted at mothers. A 2014 report released by the Pew Research Center found two million men to be stay-at-home dads in the US. The stay-at-home dad was more regularly portrayed in the media by the 2000s, especially in the United States.