Why? Why, oh why, become a mother?

Do children actually make parents happy? Or are they just little terrorists?

Research suggests that the correlation between having children and gaining happiness is zero. After all, this is a tough and often unrewarding job. How many days and nights are spent wrapped in worry. There is the demanding toddler or worse the surly teenager. Research says that prospective parents often focus on the 'illusions' of parenting and not the uncomfortable realities.

Often ignored is the mundane routine of doing laundry, making beds, cleaning up playrooms, bathrooms, doing the dishes and making the meals - night after night and year after year. But these everyday chores are often overlooked in favor of the 'idealist moments,' for example, the child's first holiday, the first day of school, and graduation. 'Picture perfect' moments when the kids are dressed in their finery and and you're basking in the sunshine of the 'grand and gloriousness of motherhood. But is a lifetime of stress, worry and obligation really worth the Kodak moments?

The London Mirror's, Miriam Stoppard, says that the joy of having four children and eleven grandchildren has brought her, "more joy, love, reward, satisfaction, and fun" than any "love affair, career high, or financial windfall." She concedes the there is "endless conflicts between being a good mum, a good employee, and a good partner," but she thinks the balance still swings in favor of motherhood.

However, Michelle Cottle ,in The New Republic Online, talks about the "incomprehensible bliss" of child-rearing and the "grinding anxiety." She talks of a feeling of "immense vulnerability," and a general loss of freedom. She states, Once you have kids you can erase the word 'carefree' from your vocabulary." But, she advises, "...go ahead - take the plunge. It will probably make your life more fulfilling," unless your child "winds up on a clock tower with an automatic weapon."

While our kids can often seem like little terrorists (not something you want to mention at airport security) we, as mothers, have to wage our own mini-war on terrorism. Whether it is your two-year-old throwing her cereal bowl at you, or the teenager taking the car without permission. At the end of the day, we mothers are at the front lines of "Homeland Security," in our own homes, everyday. And that's how its always been - and perhaps, always will be.

What do you think? Are your kids terrific or terrorists? Tell us about your "Homeland Security" program?