A is for Aggravation

Here at last is an alphabet book for parents-a book as funny and delightful as Please Don't Eat the Daisies. From Adolescence to Zoolatry, by way of Discipline, Noise, Sibling Rivalry, and, of course, Yelling, Elizabeth Wetzel has written a book that is as essential for parents as Dr. Spock and aspirin. Mrs. Wetzel tells the truth, no matter how hilarious. She entertains no foolish notions of perfection in parent or child; instead, she offers aid and comfort to those who suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous children. Here are the rules for living with teenagers and toddlers, advice on choosing (and vetoing) pets, creative yelling techniques, constructive systems for worrying. Here are the answers to such questions as why the bathroom is the most popular room in the house, how to deal with junk collections, and why galoshes are worn only indoors on sunny days. Above all, Elizabeth Wetzel reminds parents, when the going gets grim, to smile in the knowledge that one day the children will have children of their own.