Your real mum is likely to be hinting for the latest perfume, expensive body cream or spa trip and while Sunday is the day to indulge them (perhaps even remember to put the dishwasher on), spare a thought for these lovely on-screen mums, who deserve just as much credit and maybe a tad more praise than a wilting bunch of flowers from the local petrol station offers (if that's what you've bought, think again)...

Mrs Incredible - The Incredibles

Mrs Incredible, aka Helen Parr, aka Elastigirl, aka mum (phew, she gets brownie points just for remembering to answer to all of those names) is everyone's favourite power mum. The woman can stretch herself until she's 1mm thin - perfect for when her lively family try to get out of reach just before bedtime. Helen (voiced by Holly Hunter) can also transform her body into a boat - who needs the hassle of public transport when you can do that? For being able to make daily tasks a lot easier and pull off a skin-tight red catsuit (so unfair) she gets 10/10 from us.

Mrs Weasley - The Harry Potter series

First off, we're unbelievably jealous of Mrs Weasley's family clock (which shows where her family are at all times, including if they're in 'mortal peril') and the fact that with a flick of her wand she can do almost any parenting chore. Still grounded, though, Molly (played by Julie Walters) won't let her twin boys Fred and George whip their wands out for every chore and is more than happy to set household cleaning tasks for her disgruntled brood. Add in the fact that Molly can scream louder than any magic howler and takes poor little Harry Potter under her wing from day one and frankly she deserves more than a clock.

Evelyn 'Evy' Carnahan - The Mummy Returns

Evy, like Mrs Incredible, is one kick-ass mum. She's a bit clumsy - libraries literally fall around her - and has a penchant for getting into life-threatening situations, but boy does she know a lot about Egyptian history. How easy would history homework be with her around? Heck, we'd get our kids to write it in hieroglyphics just to show off. When Evy (played by Rachel Weisz) and Rick O'Connell's (played by Brendan Fraser) son Alex gets caught up in the accidental awakening of a Mummy army, Evy goes into full-throttle 'protect the herd' mode. We reckon we could do with some of those moves on the school run - we'd have her on our PTA any day!

Nina Banks - Father of the Bride

Nina Banks (played by Diane Keaton) has two gorgeous children who, from what we can glean, do little more than grow up playing basketball, doing science projects and, in Annie's case, meet the man of their dreams. But Nina has another 'child' on her hands in the form of husband George Banks (Steve Martin), who spends most of his time squabbling with Franck (Martin Short) - their wedding-come-baby shower-come nursery planner. Nina finds herself bailing George out of jail, losing her house and having to calm his money-induced meltdowns on an almost daily basis. Then, to cap it all off, she falls pregnant at the same time as her now grown-up daughter Annie, so has to cope with the grandma and new mum label all at once. And she does all of this with her hair perfectly in place, normally a nice string of pearls and a chic suit. Hats off.

Vianne Rocher - Chocolat 

Vianne Rocher (played by Juliette Binoche) may be at the mercy of the wind, taking her daughter Anouk from place to place and never quite knowing where to call home, but one stop-off finds her in the arms of Roux aka Johnny Depp, so major bonus points there. Vianne is able to read people and supply just the right chocolates to suit their (in most cases hidden) burning desire, unsettling all of those around her, but teaching Anouk important messages about fitting in, friends, family and love. Vianne's chocolate shop is every little girl's dream and we bargain many a woman would give up their desk job to melt, mould and decorate chocolate...

Emma Daly writes for MadeForMums.com - head to the site for all of the latest parenting information, news and reviews.