The affection of children

Do not come to rely on the affection of children

It is easily given

Seductive

and gratifying as that first mouthful of iced water after a long, dry bus ride on a scorching afternoon

But it is unsafe to expect it

unfair to demand it

and unreasonable to think it can withstand the batterings of growth, ego and burgeoning identity

Pretty soon you will be - as all adults invariably become - a strange and pale being about whom they rarely think and if so, only to briefly compare themselves with and vow never to be so ...

boring

dull

flat

soft

Unless of course you are their parent

In which case the glass of water may turn out to be a poisoned chalice

that you gulp,

hoping for quenched thirst

but finding

bitter drops

that

get

caught

in

your

throat.

Susan the Obscure