Motherhood is not respected or celeberated as it should be. Yet here, in a tribute to Mums everywhere, the Mail's Allison Pearson says it's still the most joyous (and important) job in the world. i have edited this article to make it more appealing and suitable to our desi taste ermm without authors permission :-)

Situation vacant: challenging managerial position in busy small organisation. Would suit flexible, energetic female who doesn't need any sleep. Shifts last 24 hours a day. Boss comes on holiday with you. You will be expected to be a teacher, a cook, a nurse, a chauffeur, a health and safety adviser, a cleaner, a management consultant and an agony aunt.

Must not be squeamish about bottom-wiping, snot clearance etc. Good sense of humour essential. Working knowledge of hamsters and other small rodents an advantage.
An ability to put your own needs last is useful, as is a pair of eyes in the back of your head.

Salary: none. Promotion prospects: what promotion?

Time off in lieu: maybe in 25 years, so long as the grandchildren haven't arrived yet.

Benefits: nice remarks after you're dead when they finally appreciate you. Immense job satisfaction of creating happy, productive human beings.

Perks: flowers once a year and breakfast in bed on mother's day.

I ask you, who would apply for the job of mother? Lets stop for a moment and think about what being a mum actually involves.Quite frankly, we should be grateful there are any new candidates at all for this most demanding of roles

With two children of my own, I have experienced those bleached-out early mornings when you have been up all night with a sick baby and the garbage bag chooses that precise moment to split and spill its contents over the kitchen floor.

The toddler runs into the stink, splashing it on to your only clean work skirt and you honestly think you are going to start screaming and may never stop because you cannot stand another single second of the noise and the mess

But to suggest chaos, exhaustion and despair are the entire truth about motherhood is like saying an orchestra is only timpani, clashing cymbals and a couple of flatulent tubas.
This is dangerous territory. If we go on reporting motherhood as a lose-lose situation, then we will put off even more potential mums

The "me generation" has postponed the sacrifices necessary to have children because juggling everything just seems too hard.Yet sacrifice, as generations of Britons who came before us understood, can bring great gains as well as losses.

"Your life is not your own any more when you have kids," a young beauty therapist said to me the other day.She's absolutely right. And I am so glad my life is not my own any more.
Attending to the needs of small people who are entirely dependent on you can be boring, but it also brings a wonderful freedom from that obsession with self which makes our age so superficial and lonely.There is still pathetically little public recognition for those who do that job so brilliantly.

The problem for many new mums today is the lack of sensible, inspiring examples.We need role models, not supermodels and movie stars who make motherhood look like something you can have FedExed to you in a box with a big bow on top.The Smugeratti tell magazines they don't believe in nannies or other types of childcare.So who do you suppose is looking after little Ezekiel Elvis while mummy is on the Milan catwalk or getting a tummy tuck done to get back into her size four jeans within six weeks of giving birth?The battalion of staff paid to keep mum, that's who.

When I was writing this article, my son came running in to show me the Mother's Day card he made at school.As usual, he has drawn me on the front in green crayon. I look like the Incredible Hulk's mad auntie."Shhh..." he said, putting his finger to his lips, "'it's a secret."
So it is. Motherhood is a secret, or the best bits are. Our struggles are public, but our joys are private. That should change. let all mums celebrate themselves for attempting that toughest, yet most rewarding, of unpaid jobs.

And let us remember that wise woman who said: "I meant to be the ideal mother, but I was too busy trying to bring up my children."