as a parent who's made every possible mistake...

i'm surprised to find how irritated i am
by other people's kids i encounter at work --
at least the ones that don't know how to act,
which seems to be about 70% of 'em.

in fairness to the kids, i have to say
that it's probably harder to get
mom and dad's attention nowadays,
since everybody got so _busy_.

one thing i'd like to share with those parents:
in the fullness of time, some of the stuff
that seems so _important_ right now
isn't going to seem so important.

and i promise you, at the end of your life,
you're not going to care whether or not this deal went down
but it's entirely possible that you will regret
not having taken the time to answer your child's question.