The Years Of A Child

Brought into the world at birth,

To the sound of merriment and mirth.

At the age of one, with uncertainty they walk,

Stumbling over phrases, whilst learning to talk.

Two years old, and curiosity is intense,

Questions the cat, why does it seem so dense?

Three years old, and peeking in Mum and Dad's lair,

Pulls up Dad's eyelid, just to see if he's there.

At around fours years old, at nursery school they start,

Using old cardboard boxes, as a pretend horse and cart.

Five years old, starts proper school, doing 'big' sums,

Not much time now, for sucking ones thumbs.

Then between the ages of six and ten,

They do much the same thing, over and over again.

Around eleven or twelve, they'll start in the 'big' school,

Its when they realise, they're just another fish in the pool.

Thirteen, and a teenager they become,

Found their first love, it strikes them dumb.

Then around fourteen, they start to grow and change,

Their outlook is different, their body feels strange.

Fifteen, then sixteen, they seem to have grown so fast,

Looking for something in life, as they leave school at last.

Seventeen, some get their first job, its euphoric elation,

But they seem to adapt fast, to this new situation.

Eighteen approaches, some find love, start going steady,

Sometimes at nineteen, engaged, marriage already?

Twenty, twenty one, some start a family of their own,

And you their parents, have seen it all, as they've grown.

1988 - revised 1999  TSSK