It’s time to believe your eyes – The real truth about fatherhood

Most ads aimed at young dads seem only to emphasise the joy and awe you experience at becoming a father. It’s all cute, giggling toddlers and poignant looks of complete contentment. They never show the little one bringing his dinner back up on daddy’s shoulder do they? And the conclusion? Essentially, it’s never to trust the adverts. That is, until now.

A new viral video from Fiat - a response to their huge hit ‘The Motherhood’- finally sets the record straight. It’s both a stark warning and a hilariously honest look at what it’s really like being a dad. In it, our exhausted, emotionally scarred and nervous wreck of a hero is a man living on the edge of reason, desperate for a good night’s sleep. Or at the very least a power nap.

In a state of delirium he’s been sent out to drive the kids around in the family Fiat 500L, hoping the smooth ride will send the screaming terrors off to sleep. Whilst on the road, he begins to daydream (or perhaps hallucinate!) about lost youth. Cue music (think Human League) and we get a glimpse at what life was like BK (that’s Before Kids, in case you’re wondering).

A loving pastiche of the 80s (and New Romanticism in particular) the video is full of the awful clothes and poorly conceived fantasy sequences (can anyone explain why there’s a unicorn?) that made videos from that decade both hilarious and endearing. The lyrics lament the loss of youth and the sorrow of clothes covered in baby urine.

This is the real truth about fatherhood. Any man who has been there himself will tell you just how accurate it is. If you’re thinking about being a dad, and have been brainwashed by advertising into thinking it’s all bubbles and bathtimes. Think again. ‘The Fatherhood’ is the real truth. Amen to that.