In my opinion

Motherhood seems to be an endeavor where it's routine to feel that you should be doing better. If you manage to help one of your children achieve something they desire- the next day it can seem wrong and then what kind of job did you do of helping in the first place? You are suppose to be all things to all people, stay as fresh and adorable as the day before you got pregnant and manage to be chic and attractive without ever buying new clothes. (Kids are after all, very expensive.) You have to look for all those teachable moments, forgive all their irrational outbursts ("I hate this family and especially you!") and keep your mouth shut when you'd most like to vent about the frustrations of living with them. No one held a gun to my head and said "Now that you are over 40, you have to have 3 children." No, I signed up for this and most of the time it feels like a worthwhile enterprise. Undervalued, repetitive and low on the excitement level (unless you like receiving phone calls in the middle of doing something important because your son just flew off his bike, appears to be bleeding from somewhere and needs to be picked up- right now!) Kids are great when they are asleep or off at school getting good grades and being good citizens to boot. But like all things worth doing- different days can leave you in a very different state of mind. Managing the family, the home and all the petty concerns can make the rewards of parenthood vague some days at best.