This parent gig is hard-work, sometimes we fail to stop and consider how totally awesome we are. We are doing it day-in day-out – with no complaints (okay, maybe a few”¦ okay a lot). If only we could go back in time and speak to ourselves ‘pre-kids’ – to warn ourselves what is in store. Do you worry that you are doing a good enough job? Here are 20 signs that you are a brilliant parent.

Forgetting to eat

Your tummy is rumbling it’s 3pm and you have totally forgotten to eat! The kids on the other hand have had breakfast, morning tea, lunch, and an afternoon snack.

What mirror?

You’ve got the kids up, put them in clean clothes, brushed their hair, and their teeth. You are 10 minutes into a car journey when you realise you haven’t even looked in the mirror this morning. Upon arrival at your destination you pull hair up with a hair tie and hope no one notices!

Nursery rhymes are your only music source

You know all the words to almost every nursery rhyme going and most Disney soundtracks, but if someone asked you for your favourite song in the charts at the moment then you would not have a clue.

You miss them on date night

Finally, you get a night out and you spend the whole evening talking about them. When you get home, you rush into their room to check on them and give them a kiss goodnight.

Their comforter is as important to you as it is to them

Your child’s comforter is a big deal to everyone in the household. You look after it almost as well as you do the kids. It’s cleaned regularly (when you can prize it from their hands), it’s been stitched up on more than one occasion, and if it one day gets lost then you feel totally heartbroken.

You always have a supply of snacks

You would not dare leave the house without a week’s supply of snacks and drinks in the bag. Hungry kids make for unhappy mummies and daddies.

Working all the hours of the night to catch up

There are simply not enough hours in the day and most evenings are spent catching up on emails, re-writing to do lists, cleaning, and preparing for the next day.

Comforting them after a fall

As soon as they fall over they come running at you for a cuddle. Oh, it’s nice to feel so wanted!

You always provide a healthy diet

Every day they have fruit and veggies you make damn sure of it. You on the other hand, look to the end of the day when you get to destroy that chocolate bar!

Singing, dancing and entertaining them while you are out and about

Your kid is unhappy and everyone in the room knows about it. Being the awesome parent you are, you do anything and everything to entertain them- whether it is singing their favourite song, dancing their favourite dance, and you don’t care what people think.

Let them climb into your bed at night

It’s the middle of the night, they are miserable about something”¦ tummy upset, growing pains, nightmare, etc., and you don’t even give it a second thought about putting them in your bed and cuddling up with them until morning. In fact, you kinda love it.

Always upbeat and positive when you are really nervous for them

Something big is happening in your kids life”¦ first day at school, first day at kindy, soccer final, school play whatever it is you are more nervous than they are. But, you don’t let on smiles all around and they will never know.

You spend weeks organising a party and they are totally oblivious

How hard is it to get out some party invites, buy some food, party bags and balloons apparently it takes over your extremely busy life for the two weeks leading up to it! The birthday boy or girl has absolutely no idea you were up to midnight filling up loot bags and frankly, they don’t care!

You can’t remember the last time you watched a movie

The television turns off on either ABC for Kids/ ABC 3/ Disney Junior etc. and it is turned back on these channels.

You are your child’s punching bag

It hurts being a parent, literally from all angles! When they are really small they just love to give you a playful slap, as they get older all they want to do is ‘wrestle’ on the floor, and as they get older you might be on the receiving end of a really angry child. Oh, how lucky we are”¦

You clean up poo

I wonder if any parent has made a tally of the number of dirty nappies they have changed. Surely someone has!

You cook their dinner every night

Freshly cooked, delicious (well, sometimes), home-cooked goodness every night possible.

You sit and play dolls, cars, planes, or trains with them – even though you are totally bored

You have to pretend that you are as excited and bubbly as they are about playing the same game every day. Yep, you can totally add ‘actor/actress’ to your resume!

You have two blankets, two comforters, just in case one gets lost

You learned very quickly with your first born that when something that is dear to them gets lost, then you are in big trouble. So, you buy two of everything!

You feed them, take them out, play games, hydrate them, bath them, read books and finally tuck them into bed everyday!