15 Signs You And Your Significant Other Would Make Good Parents (Someday)

1. You can take care of yourselves, keep your apartment relatively clean and successfully care for your pets, if you have any. You juggle all this and don’t find it too overwhelming. While having a pet might change your daily life, or tweak your routine, it’s not in a negative way.

2. You’re both the type of people who can resolve issues and conflicts with ease, and are able to (for the most part) avoid letting them escalate and spiral completely out of control. Even when there are serious problems, you’re able to handle them in a mature way, as calmly as possible.

3. You’re always looking out for the other person — you know what puts them in a bad mood, what will help get them out of their funk and when they need to be left alone.

4. You’re both willing to compromise and always work together to find a middle ground, rather than forcing one person to give up everything while the other doesn’t compromise at all. You’re relationship is equal and it’s rare that one person needs to accommodate more than the other.

5. You’re not afraid to make mistakes or screw up in front of the other person. You know that each of you are trying your best (in your relationship and in life) and that you don’t always get things right on the first try.

6. You share similar values in terms of how a child should be raised. You both agree on what’s effective (i.e. to coddle versus to let them make mistakes on their own) and draw from what went right and what didn’t work when you were growing up.

7. You’re not overbearing. You understand that being nurturing and showing someone you love them doesn’t mean never letting your partner or the people you love out of your sight.

8. You’re close to your family and feel supported by them, or you’ve created a tight-knit circle of friends who are like family. (Or both.)

9. You and your significant other don’t fight around your friends. You have a general sense of decorum that prompts you to not blow up at each other in public.

10. You’re not shy about being affectionate toward each other in private. You’re the type of people who show your love not to be boastful but simply because you want to express it.

11. Neither of you get grossed out easily.

12. You’re responsible and hold yourself accountable for your actions around your partner, your friends and your family. You are both people who pull your own weight and don’t lazily try to skip out of tasks and chores.

13. Neither of you insist on being the center of attention or the life of the party at all times. You aren’t jealous when your partner gets more attention than you do, nor do you feel the need to reclaim the spotlight.

14. You both love making other people (and each other) happy.

15. You don’t obsess over tiny indications that you might not be cut out for parenthood this very second. You don’t need to be the most perfectly nurturing person, or be radiating maternal or paternal instincts to be great parents.