EVERYBODY WINS, NOBODY LOSES

Not a howler, but the housebound mother will take solace and a gentle amusement from Mrs. Bahr's keen eye for what drives Mother up the kitchen wall. There is for example the matter of discipline: ""One mistake and you lose confidence, and boy, do the children know it."" Like the mother's diagnosis of pre-school malaise as ""Impending Test"" when it turned out to be a burst appendix. Then there's the unfortunate discovery that ""when I shouted, they listened,"" the beginning of a spiral effect that through the years shatters the vocal chords. Mrs. Bahr touches on many mop-and-moppet matters -- birthday parties, housework (there's always something you do better than anyone else!), school plays, school lunches (""why don't they hire a real pizza-maker""), the local beauty parlor (the mothers emerge looking like ""aging call girls""), and so on. As a veteran of PTA and peanut butter the author has done it and seen it all, and if she protests a bit too much about the satisfactions of the fulltime job -- she's entitled.