Parenting can be a tough gig - you're on call 24 hours a day and you can't quit when things get difficult.

But those special moments between parent and child make all the hard work worth it, as proven by a list of 'ultimate mum moments' shared by Mumsnet users asked to recall when they truly felt they were 'handling' motherhood.

In addition to supporting sons and daughters through exams and discovering their sexuality, some mothers described washing vomit off a sick child and being told they were 'cool' as evidence they were doing a good job.

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Mumnset users have come together to reminisce about the moments that make them glad to be mothers - and sometimes it's the most unlikely events that trigger them

Mumsnet user Stormwhale asked the question 'what is your ultimate mum moment?', prompting scores of replies

Mumsnet user Stormwhale kicked off the debate with the question: 'What is your ultimate mum moment?'

She wrote: 'Mine was when DD (darling daughter) had a sick bug and threw up all over herself and me. It was in her hair, her bed, everywhere.

'This will sound mad, but I stripped us both off, got us in the bath together and had a weird feeling of calm and happiness as I soothed her and got us clean.

'I just felt it was an ultimate mum moment and I was handling it really well.'

Illness, sleeplessness and discussions about sexuality all made the list of moments it truly dawned on women that they were mothers

The question sparked a flurry of responses, with YesItsMeIDontCare describing hers as: 'When I yelled "STOP RIGHT NOW" as the two four-year-olds went racing off toward the doors of the swimming baths and into the car park... and they did!'

Some responses were about that nerve-wracking moment before a child gets exam results

Other mums recalled the anxious build up before a child finds out their exam results.

Exiledmanc wrote about her son's A level results: 'We sat together at his desk very early in the morning of results day while he logged on to UCAS.

Gabsdot wrote about the moment she realised that her adopted son belonged to her

'While waiting to see if his offer had changed to [an] unconditional, he grabbed my hand and squeezed it like he was still a little boy and not a hulking six footer.

'Seconds later we were both crying and he'd lifted me off the ground in a bear hug.'

Plominoagain's ultimate mum moment came when her son told her he was gay

Gabsdot wrote about her adopted eight month old son: 'We were being driven the four hours back to our hotel. We stopped for a break and I changed DS (dear son's) nappy.

'He screamed and cried and I had this moment of realisation that he was my baby and I couldn't give him back to anyone, it was up to me to settle him and I did.'

Plominoagain wrote: 'When one of my sons told me he was gay. Admittedly he was plastered and I was driving him back from a party, and he all of a sudden just kind of did the "Mum, I need to say something".

Ultimate mum moments can come at any time, any place - whether it the middle of the night, your child is ill or they're 19 and drunk

Madamginger wrote about her daughter telling her that her friends thought she was cool

'I told him as long as he was happy and safe, then I was happy. Then he said "I don't know why I was worried about telling you, I knew you'd say that". Must have done something right in 19 years!'

Madamginger wrote: 'I'm on the school PTA and we just had our Halloween disco. I dressed up as a zombie with full on make up and fake blood.

'My DD told me that her friends told her she had the coolest mum.'

Mums recalled some of their most moving motherhood moments in the online forum

Other treasured mum memories play out like a scene from a film.

CheshireEditor said: 'When my DS went on his first school residential for two nights in year five, when the coach arrived back at school I couldn't see him on it.

'Then I saw him, he pushed through the crowd at top speed and flung himself at me into such a hard and meaningful hug. I can still see it now, it was like a scene from a movie.'