The Cycle of Our Roles in Life

When my kids were very little, but not quite in their youth

So innocent and sweet, and they always told the truth

Everything they first had heard, must have sounded Greek

I wondered later, why we couldn't wait to hear them speak

They got a little older, smarting off while still so young

Suddenly that changed; a dot of dish soap on their tongue

They spit and then they sputtered, 'till they could only squeak

Their manners sure improved, for about another week

Then we had three teenagers, who had each other's back

 Hard to keep their stories straight, in fear that one would crack

We always knew the drill and how to get the truth to leak

They found out there's no paddle, on their voyage up the creek

Now my kids are all adults with families of their own

So familiar is their parenting; to get their kids all grown

I know their time is coming, when their children too will sneak

I wonder how they'll like it, when their kids call them a geek

We are a little older and are entering our peak

We recently had setbacks, that had made us both so weak

Without our children's help, our life may have been more bleak

The roles are now reversed;  I think I like this new technique