Youth is Like a Bird: the Pea Princess, age 8, she writes.

Pea Princess had a substitute teacher this week who taught a unit called Forever Young. They had to write a poem about the topic. Here's hers. Youth is like a bird, It's free I've heard. It's not stuck in a cage, Or (like a book) stuck in a page. But adult-hood is coming near, So goodbye friends And goodbye fear. At breakfast this morning she produced this (with instructions to us all that we must not laugh) and explained to her little brother that the goodbye fear part meant: "You know how we're scared of cockroaches and Mum and Dad aren't scared of cockroaches? That's because we're kids and they're grown ups." I am so glad she sees us as fearless. There's plenty of time for the reality. Mtc Bec