Motherhood is like a fairy tale in reverse. You start out in a beautiful ball gown and end up in stained rags cleaning up after little people. But part of the happily ever after of having kids is the laughs along the way, and learning to laugh about being a mom. Luckily, mom jokes are just what your fairy godmother ordered.

From pregnancy to taking care of wee ones to dealing with teens, every stage of motherhood is covered with these hilarious mom jokes. Share one (or all 150) of these short jokes with the mothers in your life, especially if you want something a little more lighthearted than a heartfelt mom quote.

So, read on for some of the funniest mother jokes ever!

Get Reader’s Digest’s Read Up newsletter for more humor, cleaning, travel, tech and fun facts all week long.

Motherhood jokes

Spicy Mom Jokerd.com, Getty Images

  • Good moms let their kids lick the beaters. Great moms turn them off first.
  • “It’s spicy” is the universal mom code word for “I don’t want to share.”
  • Motherhood has shown me that you don’t need fun to have alcohol.
  • Motherhood is like a fairy tale, but in reverse. You start out in a beautiful ball gown and end up in stained rags cleaning up after little people.
  • As a mom, I’m no longer a snack. I’m a Happy Meal. I come with toys and kids.
  • Having a weird mom builds character.
  • My kids can never make fun of me for teaching me how to use my phone. I taught them how to use a spoon.
  • How kids say goodnight: “I fed the dog, and now he’s making a funny noise.”
  • Don’t be so hard on yourself; the mom in ET had an alien living in her house for weeks and didn’t notice.
  • Some days you question your parenting. Other days you have to question your child’s childing.
  • Being a mother of a teenager is finally understanding why some animals eat their young.
  • The fastest way to spread news isn’t on the internet. It’s by telling your mom.
  • Nothing is truly lost until Mom can’t find it.
  • Ever heard of a job that requires no experience, gives no training, pays nothing, and you can’t quit? That’s motherhood. Oh, and people’s lives are on the line.
  • Motherhood taught me just how far I can let myself go and still be okay with it.
  • Motherhood means that half the time I feel like I’m running an asylum, and the other half I feel like I belong in one.
  • Mommy doesn’t have a favorite child—you all annoy me equally.
  • My mum has the best solutions for every problem. She is truly the mother of invention.

Any levity is a good thing when your job (or second job) is wrangling little humans. So have a laugh at these dark jokes that just might fit your mood.

Funny mom jokes and puns

Amazon Prime Mom Jokerd.com, Getty Images

  • I live in constant fear of having to share a “fun fact” about me.
  • I’d love to be a Pinterest mom, but it turns out I’m more of an Amazon Prime mom.
  • Mom’s casseroles come in two sizes: not enough and enough to feed an army with leftovers.
  • I love all my children equally. Except for the one who sleeps. I love that one more.
  • “After a long day, my favorite thing is to think of something for dinner that everyone will eat.” —No mother, ever
  • Mom, I donut know what I’d do without you.
  • There is no butter mom than you!
  • I would like to officially apologize to my toddler for opening her granola bar from the top instead of the bottom. I don’t know what I was thinking.
  • Showering as a mom should be an Olympic sport: Everyone’s yelling your name, you have to beat the clock, and you rarely win a medal.
  • I hate when I’m waiting for Mom to cook dinner—and then I remember I am Mom.
  • Mom’s recipe for iced coffee: Have kids. Make coffee. Forget you made coffee. Put it in the microwave. Forget you put it in the microwave. Drink it cold.
  • I love my kids. Not enough to flip the chicken nuggets halfway through cooking, but I love them.
  • Momster: What Mom turns into after she counts to three.
  • Mom sleep: the state of rest where your eyes are closed but you can still hear everything your kids are doing.
  • “Look at me, Mommy!” is the toddler equivalent of “Hold my beer.”
  • Kids sure do make a lot of plans for people who can’t drive themselves anywhere.
  • Not to be cheesy, but you’re a grate mom.
  • Olive you, mom!
  • Roses are red, violets are blue. My mom jokes are funnier than you.
  • Everything you do is so mom point.
  • Science teacher: “When is the boiling point reached?” Student: “When my mother sees my report card!”
  • Mom, you did a grape job raisin me.

Kids can make you feel like you’re shedding brain cells. But these clever jokes will make you feel smart.

New mom jokes

Diapers Mom Jokerd.com, Getty Images

  • It’s ironic that we celebrate the kid on the anniversary of the day their mom did all the work.
  • A friend asked me if she should have a baby after 40. I said no, 40 babies are enough.
  • You know it’s time to clean out the diaper bag when you put it on the front seat and your car assumes it’s a person not wearing a seat belt.
  • New mom math: Being able to instantly calculate age by months, even after one year.
  • I don’t want to sleep like a baby. I want to sleep like my husband.
  • A toddler can do more in one unsupervised minute than most people can do in a day.
  • First baby: You start wearing maternity clothes as soon as the test is positive. Second baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible. Third baby: Your maternity clothes are your regular clothes.
  • I’m going to donate these bags of outgrown baby clothes to Goodwill. But first I’m going to drive around with them in my trunk for two months.
  •  Important truth no one tells you: Both of you come home from the hospital in diapers.
  • May your coffee be stronger than your toddler.

If you like these mom jokes, try your humor on your little ones with these “what do you call” jokes. We’ll go first: What do you call a person who’s overworked and not paid at all? A mom.

Moms feeling #blessed

Crocs Mom Jokerd.com, Getty Images

  • Your nickname is Mom. But your real name is Mooooooooom!
  • Is it yelling? Or just very enthusiastic motivational speaking?
  • “Mom, I love you loads. Like, loads of laundry. Speaking of…”
  • My kid sure talks a lot of crap for someone who still puts Crocs on the wrong feet.
  • Why do my kids never appreciate that I stayed up all night overthinking for them?
  • I expected to have to spend more time on things after having kids, but no one warned me about how many years of my life I’d lose waiting for them to get in and out of the car.
  • I love when the kids tell me they’re bored. As if the lady standing in front of a sink full of dirty dishes is where you go to get ideas about how to have a good time.
  • Why is it that kids can repeat a swear word after hearing you say it once but still “don’t know how” to pick up their shoes despite seeing you do it a million times?
  • My mom superpower is being the only person in the house who can see an empty toilet paper roll.
  • Shower paranoia: the constant feeling that a child is crying every time you step under the spray.
  • She believed she could, and she almost did…but then someone asked her repeatedly for a snack, and she lost track of what she was doing.

Motherhood comes with a creeping sense that your family is Weird with a capital W. Like these mom jokes, these funny mom stories will prove once and for all that every family has its quirks.

Funny mom puns

Mums Mom Jokerd.com, Getty Images

  • What kind of flowers are best for Mother’s Day?
      Mums.
  • What did the baby corn say to the mama corn?
    “Where’s Pop-corn?”
  • What did the panda give his mommy?
    A bear hug.
  • What do you call a short mom?
    A mini-mum.
  • What did the mama say to the foal?
    “It’s pasture bedtime.”
  • What was Cleopatra’s favorite day of the year?
     Mummy’s Day.
  • Why don’t they have Mother’s Day sales?
    Because mothers are priceless.
  • What’s the difference between Superman and mothers?
    Superman is a superhero when he has to be. Moms are superheroes all the time.
  • What did the digital clock say to its analog mother?
    “Look, Mom! No hands!”
  • What kind of candy do moms love for Mother’s Day?
     Her-she’s Kisses.
  • What kind of boat is barely staying afloat yet somehow manages to function?
    The mother ship.
  • Why did the cookie cry?
    Because his mother was a wafer so long!
  • Why did the baby strawberry cry?
    Because his mom was in a jam!
  • How do you keep little cows quiet, so their mommy can sleep late?
    Use the mooote button.
  • Where do baby Transformers come from?
    Opti-Mom Prime.
  • What is a mom’s favorite flower?
    Chrysanthemoms.
  • Why did the Mother’s Day gift arrive the day after Mother’s Day?
    It was choco-late.
  • Why is a computer so smart?
    Because it listens to its motherboard.
  • What’s the fastest land mammal?
    A toddler who’s been asked what’s in their mouth.
  • What makes more noise than a child jumping on mommy’s bed?
    Two children jumping on mommy’s bed!
  • Why was it so hard for the pirate to call his mom?
    Because she left the phone off the hook.
  • What did Mommy spider say to baby spider?
    “You spend too much time on the web.”
  • Why do Mothers have to have two visits to the optometrist?
    Because they also have eyes in the back of their head.
  • Why did mom get a plate of English muffins on Mother’s Day?
    Her family wanted her to feel like a queen!
  • Why did the bean children give their mom a sweater?
    She was chili.
  • Why is Mother’s Day before Father’s Day?
    So the kids can spend all their Christmas money on mom.
  • Why did they have to rush the mommy rattlesnake to the doctor?
    She bit her tongue!
  • What sweets do astronaut moms like?
    Mars bars.
  • What three words solve dad’s every problem?
    Ask your mother.
  • What do you call a mom who can’t draw?
    Tracy.
  • Why did the boy put the Mother’s Day cupcakes in the freezer?
    His sister told him to ice them.
  • What kind of coffee was the alien mommy drinking on Mother’s Day?
    Starbucks.
  • Why do mother kangaroos hate rainy days?
    Their kids have to play inside!
  • Have you heard the urban legend about what happens when you scream “Mom” three times in the shower?
    A nice lady appears with the towel you forgot.

Train your kids early to laugh often. These pun-derfully funny puns for kids will do the trick.

You know you’re a mom when…

Candy Stash Mom Jokerd.com, Getty Images

  • …being alone in your car is the most exciting part of your day.
  • …you have multiple conversations a day about poop, and none of it is yours.
  • …all you want for your birthday is for people to stop getting a new glass every time they need a drink.
  • …someone else gets hurt and you cry.
  • …going to work feels like a vacation, and going on vacation feels like work.
  • …you have a secret stash of candy that not even your spouse gets to see.
  • …the first thing you say when you walk into a room is, “What’s that smell?”
  • …you glide the shopping cart back and forth even when there’s no baby in it.
  • …you’ve been used as a human Kleenex and didn’t bat an eye.
  • …you use baby wipes to clean literally everything.
  • …silence isn’t golden; it’s suspicious.
  • …happy hour is nap time—yours or theirs.
  • …you consider a permanent marker a weapon of mass destruction.
  • …you see a smear of brown on your shirt and you have to smell it to see if it’s chocolate or poop.
  • …you have to choose between sneezing and waking the baby or holding it in and dislocating a rib.
  • …you understand on a deep level why Mama Bear’s porridge was too cold.
  • …spending $500 on new school clothes for your kids is easy, but you need a coupon and cash to buy new leggings for yourself.
  • …you realize you just cleaned the living room so your kids would have room to play with all the toys that don’t fit in their messy rooms.

Fathers are known for their bad jokes. But moms? Well, they’re no strangers to bad jokes you can’t help but laugh at.

Funny celebrity mom quotes

Shonda Rhimes Mom Joke Quoterd.com, Getty Images

  • “It’d be cool if my kids could make something I actually want, like a bottle of wine, out of macaroni and glue.” —Stephanie McMaster
  • “When you’re a twerking mother, balance is really important because you don’t want to go too low and blow out your butt and bust your knee.” —Amy Poehler
  • “You want to torture someone? Hand them an adorable baby they love who doesn’t sleep.” —Shonda Rhimes
  • “Ah, babies. They’re more than just adorable little creatures on whom you can blame your farts.” —Tina Fey
  • “It just occurred to me that the majority of my diet is made up of the foods that my kid didn’t finish.” —Carrie Underwood
  • “Having an infant son alerts me to the fact that every man, at one point, has peed on his own face.” —Olivia Wilde
  • “The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant and let the air out of the tires.” —Dorothy Parker
  • “Sometimes I stand there going, ‘I’m not doing any of this right!’ And then I get this big man belch out of her and I go, ‘Ah, we accomplished this together.'” —Christina Applegate
  • “It’s not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it.” —Dorothy, The Golden Girls
  • “I always say, if you aren’t yelling at your kids, you’re not spending enough time with them.” —Reese Witherspoon
  • “I’ve learned that it’s way harder to be a baby. For instance, I haven’t thrown up since the ’90s, and she’s thrown up twice since we started this interview.” —Eva Mendez
  • “Some days I find myself doing strange things that don’t have any real purpose, in faraway corners in my house, and I realize I am literally and deliberately hiding from my children.” —Kate Hudson
  • “When you’re a mom of teenagers, it’s important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.” —Nora Ephron
  • “Neurotics build castles in the air. Psychotics live in them. Mothers clean them.” —Rita Rudner
  • “Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing.” —Phyllis Diller
  • “Having a baby is just living in the constant unexpected. You never know when you’re gonna get crapped on or when you’re gonna get a big smile or when that smile immediately turns into hysterics.” —Blake Lively

Celebrate the joy (and frustration) of being a mom with these mom memes. We guarantee they’ll make you laugh.

Funny mom tweets

Kazoo Mom Jokerd.com, Getty Images

  • “If you’ve never said, ‘You need to back up a little so I can wipe myself,’ do you even have kids?” —@MotherOctopusKJ
  • “Hmm, I’m the first one awake in the whole house. Think I’ll play this kazoo, it just feels right.” —@simoncholland
  • “It all starts with a late period, and then you aren’t on time for anything ever again.” —@lucylueorganics
  • “My daughter has been home from school for 30 minutes. She’s been talking for 40 of them.” —@sarabellab123
  • “Please pray for my teen, who forgot to jump and touch the doorframe before entering a room today.” —@maryfairybobrry
  • “My kids always beg to go to sleep 15 minutes before bedtime. What’s my secret? That’s when I make them do chores.” —@lmegordon
  • “The 8yo disrupted my sleep again, so I texted my mom at 2AM to ask when it stops.” —@lmegordon
  • “The closest I get to a spa day is when the steam from the dishwasher smacks me in the face.” —@BadMomLife
  • “I feel like I’d be a much better parent if I didn’t have to do it every day.” —@snarkymommy78
  • “Repeating the same thing over and over to your kids isn’t so bad if you think of it as chanting a zen mantra: “Put on your shoes. Put on your shoes. Put on your shoes. Ommmmm.” —@copymama
  • “My 5-year-old just told me that turtles are slow because they carry their houses on their backs, and I feel like this is a solid analogy for parenthood.” —@gfishandnuggets
  • “*8yo pauses video game, takes sip of juice box, finishes bowl of chips*
    8yo: Dad, can I have more?
    Me: Not right now.
    8yo: You never let me have anything!
    *storms into bedroom, kicks off sneakers, turns on Death Star lamp, picks up iPad, puts on headphones, lies on bed*” —@DadandBuried

Keep laughing at relatable parenting foibles with these funny parenting tweets that nail the highs and lows of raising kids.

Silly mom knock-knock jokes

Honeydew Knock Knock Moms Jokerd.com, Getty Images

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Abby.
Abby who?
Abby Mother’s Day!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Honeydew.
Honeydew who?
Honeydew you want a hug?

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
 Olive.
Olive who?
Olive you!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
A door.
A door who?
Adore you!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Alec.
Alec who?
Alec to give you kisses.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Omelet.
Omelet who?
Omelet Mommy sleep in today.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Justin!
Justin who?
Justin time to say Happy Mother’s Day!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Bacon.
Bacon who?
Bacon cake for Mother’s Day.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Al.
Al who?
Al give you a hug for Mother’s Day!

If you loved these funny mom jokes, you and your little ones will giggle over these short jokes for kids.

Submit your best joke here and get $25 if Reader’s Digest runs it.

Why trust us

Reader’s Digest has been telling jokes for more than 100 years, curated and reviewed over the last 20 years by Senior Features Editor Andy Simmons, a humor editor formerly of National Lampoon and the author of Now That’s Funny. We’ve earned prestigious ASME awards for our humor—including comical quips, pranks, puns, cartoons, one-liners, knock-knock jokes, riddles, memes, tweets and stories in laugh-out-loud magazine columns such as “Life in These United States,” “All in a Day’s Work,” “Laughter Is the Best Medicine” and “Humor in Uniform,” as well as online collections such as short jokesdad jokes and bad jokes so bad, they’re great. You can find a century of humor in our 2022 compendium, Reader’s Digest: Laughter, the Best Medicine. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.