You know you're a parent if:

Oh, all right... thanks to the wildly popular nature of these "You know you're a parent if..." posts, I have chosen to share with you the accumulated wisdom, wit and incisive comments of some Ricardiblog readers. Also, I've nothing better to say at the moment.

Please note that certain aspects of the first statement above are not entirely true. I've boldfaced the relevant parts so that you can find them easily.

Dawn observed:

3. You've eaten canned spaghetti in the shape of cartoon characters even though you don't particularly like it because a certain little person has delared, "I don't like that anymore" and you were raised by older parents who put you through the Great Depression by proxy and are therefore incapable of throwing away perfectly good food.

Yup, I recognize that one.

And Zoe chipped in:

4. You start baby-sitting people who are bleeding from having fallen over in a very drunken stupour.

I'm really not sure if she means her children, or other parents who are drinking out of desperation as a result of being parents. Either way, it makes the list.

I'll add one more, based on very recent experience, and then perhaps we can return to the usual posts of earth-shattering significance, or at the very least another out-of-focus picture of some flowers or something.

5. You no longer dare say anything about dinosaurs, because the four foot tall, walking, talking encyclopedia that lives in your home will correct you every time.