The Modern Mom

Cell phones are great — until yours rings nonstop or your 6-year-old begs you for one of her own. The wealth of kids' music classes and after-school sports programs is wonderful ... until you start feeling guilty for not scheduling every minute of your children's time.

According to you, a serious downside accompanies almost every advantage of modern motherhood. In fact, many of your most-loved aspects of being a mom now also showed up on your most-hated list.

You love — and hate — modern mommyhoodFor instance, you love how convenient shopping is now, when anyone with an Internet connection can snap up bargains, necessities, and splurges with the click of a mouse (24 percent), but you hate the increased materialism and consumerism of modern life (39 percent).

Work is a mixed bag for many of you: While some said you're grateful that working moms get more respect today (26 percent), a greater percentage (38 percent) said you hate feeling pressured to work or needing to for financial reasons.

And while 29 percent of moms appreciate the openness these days to different ways of parenting, 17 percent are overwhelmed by the seemingly endless choices: Cry it out or co-sleep? Time-outs or time-ins? Junk food once a day, once in a blue moon, or never?

High-tech gadgets also won high and low marks, with 30 percent calling them a "best" and 18 percent calling them a "worst." Sure, you said, high-speed Internet connections and TiVo are convenient. But you're tired of handling the constant distractions from buzzing, beeping gadgets, and dragging your kids away from the lure of the idiot box and video game console.