Bit by bit, our children grow away...

They're only partly like us from the start:
their genes have formed new combinations
like kaleidoscopes when shaken.

And then we slowly bring them up
in what we hope is an enlightened way,
trying not to make mistakes our parents made,
but making new ones, unavoidably.
Who ever does a course in parenthood?

At school the teachers who they listen to,
and friends they make, are unknown quantities;
their lives are shifted by such tricks of fate.

So it's not surprising - simply sad -
to watch then grow away.

Robert Melliard

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/our-children-grow-away/