Nashville (Tennessee) - This curious TikTok video has hit a nerve: it has been going viral for a week and has already reached more than twelve million clicks. The reason for this is the particularly intense reaction of a father to a small but subtle change in his daughter (3).

In the clip, Jhason Smith (34) has just come home from shopping. When the man from Nashville, Tennessee, sees his child, his jaw drops. Then it happens: Tears well up in his eyes.

Completely distraught, Smith takes the three-year-old in his arms and gives her a few kisses. The situation is explained in the subtitle: at this moment, the father of three sons has seen his only daughter with pigtails for the first time.

In addition to the many clicks, the moved TikTok audience left thousands of comments and more than 2.5 million likes in response to this emotional reaction.

But it's not just the users who are moved by the moment. Brittany Smith, the little girl's mother and wife of the 34-year-old, also knows what she has in her husband.

She deliberately filmed the moment because she knew he would react so emotionally. The US-American explained this in an interview with Newsweek.

"It was so sweet. His love for her broke my heart," Smith told the US magazine, which her husband also spoke to.

" Life is so hectic, time flies, especially with kids. As hard as it is, if you don't take the time to slow down and enjoy the time of life, it's gone before you know it," he said.

He wants to be a male role model for his sons, but it's different with his daughter. The way he loves and treats her shapes her self-esteem, her security and her expectations of future relationships, the father of four is certain.

"It's a daily reminder to be the best husband I can be to my wife," Smith added.