Any woman who can deal with Phil’s antics, Hayley’s whining, Alex’s smart mouth, and Luke’s crazy ideas on a daily basis without losing her mind deserves a medal. Claire Dunphy, mother extraordinaire, is the epitome of all sitcom moms. She’s far from perfect, but more than willing to do what it takes to help her kids. When you factor in her less than stellar history, particularly when it comes to boys, she becomes even more impressive. Whether it’s helping Hayley with her college essay by leaving her in the park to find her own way home or literally building a baseball park for Luke and Manny’s team to play on when they make it to the playoffs, Claire’s on the case.

No list of TV moms would be complete without the one and only, Lorelai Gilmore. The mother-daughter relationship between Lorelai and Rory was the heart that held Gilmore Girls together for 7 seasons. This one-of-a-kind relationship had us all thinking twice about our own mothers. No matter what they were doing, movie nights, town events, Friday night dinners at her parents’ house, or breakfasts at Luke’s, they were always there for each other. Lorelai managed to be a best friend as well as an effective mother to Rory, a fine line that is hard to tango with unless you’ve had your daily vat of coffee.

Her first role on Grey’s Anatomy is a surgeon, followed closely by teacher, but the story surrounding her role as mother, is where the real meat of her character lies. From the birthing suite to now, watching her experience with motherhood has brought great emotional depth to an already outstanding character. It has made her even more intriguing, and helped us relate more and more. No matter what other craziness is going on at Seattle-Grace-Mercy-West-Grey-Sloane-Memorial (or whatever the hospital is called these days), we can always count on Miranda Bailey to have us either laughing hysterically or bawling our eyes out right along with her.

The ultimate stereotype for mothers on sitcoms is the annoying, overbearing type that is ALWAYS around to correct or fix or change whatever she perceives to have been done wrong, and there is no better example than Marie Barone. She made pestering into an art form, and set the bar very high. Not an episode went by that she wasn’t advising Debra on the proper way to cook or clean or raise her children, and when she wasn’t busy with that, she was policing fights between Ray and Robert, or baking lots of goodies for her ungrateful husband. No matter what her motivation, Marie was always looking out for her family, and on occasion, she would hit the right notes at the right time, making everyone happy as can be.

While most of what we saw of Abigail was in the role of first lady, she never let a mother moment pass by without taking full advantage. Throughout Jed Bartlett’s tenure in the Oval Office, there were many opportunities for Abby to display her excellent mothering skills, particularly when her daughters where on the scene. Elizabeth, Ellie, and Zoey all show the signs of having been raised by an excellent mother, and that combined with events like Zoey’s kidnapping, Ellie’s wedding, or Elizabeth’s family turmoil display just how great a mother she can be, even now that she’s the First Lady.

When looking back on the sitcoms of yesteryear, many great mothers stand out, but none more than Claire Huxtable. Her kids never seemed to be able to pull the wool over her eyes, no matter what diabolical plan they had concocted. Denise, Theo, Vanessa, and Rudy were very fortunate to have such a great mom in their corner. She could never be described as a push-over, even when her goofball husband got involved, because she was always one step ahead. It was always fun seeing her pull one over on her kids though, especially when they thought they had the upper hand… Claire Huxtable always knows.

Most supernatural teen dramas have a serious lack of responsible adult figures, but Teen Wolf is lucky to have Melissa McCall. She balances the complicated role of single, working mother well, and provides for Scott in all the ways he needs most. She’s reasonable and flexible when necessary, but can also be tough as nails, including taking away the one thing he enjoys most when he misbehaves– his best friend Stiles. For the better part of 2 seasons, she was blissfully unaware of Scott’s supernatural issues, but now that she is partially in the loop, we can’t wait to see how her role in Scott’s life is affected. What would you do if you found out you had a werewolf for a son?

She raised Superman.

Seriously though, in the world of raising an adopted teenage son, it doesn’t get more complicated than raising an alien that looks human, but has super powers. Most mothers have to deal with the typical teenage hormones, attitudes, and grades, but when you add helping him adapt to super-hearing, laser and x-ray vision, and super-strength, the job becomes exponentially harder. Despite all the extra challenges, Martha Kent managed to raise her son to be kind, polite, and generous. Now that’s a mom.

There was no way we could leave Lady Olenna off this list, even if we see her as more of a grandmother than an actual mother. Her protective instincts on behalf of her grandchildren Margaery and Loras are nothing short of mesmerizing. No matter what the circumstances, you can always count on the Queen of Thorns to keep a cool head, and she never ceases to amaze, whether she is bartering marriage terms with Tywin Lannister or sorting out wedding budgets with Tyrion, the magic she weaves with her words is never matched. Her motherly instincts even extend to Sansa Stark, as they secretly plot to wed her to Loras and deliver her from the Lannisters’ clutches.

Most of our examples on this list are favorites because of their positivity and how well they raised their children, but Lucille Bluth is a VERY different story. The matriarch of the Bluth family, Lucille is one of our favorites simply because of how absolutely horrible she can be. She has never been the typical, kind-hearted mother-type. She definitely falls on the outright hostile side of the coin. The pill popping, booze guzzling, emotionally abusive mother to Gob, Michael, Buster, Lindsay, and Hel-loh “Annyong” Bluth may never win any ‘Mother of the Year’ awards, but her constant negativity is why we just can’t get enough of her.

Mystic Falls is not exactly a parent friendly town, especially when you are the mother of a vampire, but Sherriff Liz Forbes has succeeded where every other parent has failed—staying alive. She has even gotten involved in the action on occasion, and has always found a way out. In addition to surviving the weekly bouts of world-ending peril, she and Caroline have repaired their troubled relationship which has thrived despite their obvious differences. We can’t wait to see the tears on her face when Caroline graduates in this week’s season finale, that is, if they make it there with all the supernatural nonsense going on…