Dove Men+Care has outdone themselves with this year’s emotional Father’s Day ad

I promise that I too am skeptical of watching those commercials that are supposed to make you cry — they never work on me. Sorry, Hallmark. But from the moment it starts rolling, this Dove Men+Care Father’s Day ad is different. The realistic commercial shows what happens when real men find out they are going to be fathers for the first time.

Dove Men+Care is using this commercial short to promote their line for Father’s Day. In the one-minute ad, we see men experiencing a wide spectrum of emotions as their partners surprise them with the news that, yes, they are going to be a daddy. Dove Men+Care made this video extra tear-jerky because the company used real reactions that have been shared online, with permission from families.

We see a new dad’s overjoyed face as he opens up a positive pregnancy test on Christmas morning. Another dad playfully accuses his partner of lying as his face is overwhelmed with emotion. Yet another dad-to-be has the most perfectly shocked expression when he is given tiny baby clothes without any explanation. One happy dad breaks down in tears as he reads a card telling him the good news.

I don’t know about you, but this beautifully edited commercial kicks me in the heart in the best way possible. If you’re already a parent, this footage will cut through all of the whining, tantruming and back-talking in the big kid world you are living in and bring you right back to that first day when you and your partner found out officially that you created human life.

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For me, I remember how desperately I wanted to be pregnant for the first time. My husband and I went out to breakfast with a few friends, optimistically meandered through a baby store and bought our very first baby item (a lullaby lamb) and then not-so-inconspicuously picked up a pregnancy test at the grocery store on the first day I could test for a missed period. And I was pregnant. That special day will be forever burned into my brain as the day when we both found out the biggest news of our lives — and my husband was just as excited to be a dad as I was to be a mom.

On Dove Men+Care’s YouTube channel where the official ad was posted, Dove Men+Care writes, “We know that showing care is a sign of a man’s real strength,” and I couldn’t agree more. For once, we have a Father’s Day ad that is accurate and uplifting — instead of portraying dads as bumbling idiots who don’t know how to hold a baby, wash dishes or cook a decent meal.

More: 12 Unconventional reasons dads are rad

The dad I know, the dad I have been raising my children with, is just as capable as I am. We’re in it together 50-50, and he has just as much invested in our kids. This is what a modern dad looks like. Dads care just as much as moms, and Dove captures this truth perfectly.