Growing up changes everything

There was a time when I could sleep until my eyes felt like opening,
when I no longer felt the need to sleep.
There was a time when all I had to do was eat and sleep,
because all I could do was eat and sleep.
There was a time when everything I needed,
my mother prepared for me,
My food, my drinks, my clothes, my shoes,
everything my mother would get ready for me.

When I could read the letters of the alphabets,
my mother would buy me books, loads of books.
She would sit with me and read to me line by line,
ever so patiently, she waited for me to read word by word aloud.
She would choose for me what clothes I was going to wear,
mother matched everything perfectly for me!
She ever so patiently cajoled me to open my mouth,
and guided my little hand to aim the spoon correctly in!
And my shoes... my shoes were always just ready to be worn,
no one said anything about cleaning shoes - they were just there, always ready to be worn!

Now that I am ten, mother says I need to be more independant,
so many things I now had to do myself.
She still buys me books, but I read them by myself now,
she doesn't have time to sit with me as I pour over the pages.
Now that I get to choose my own clothes and coordinate the colours myself,
many times she'd fight with me over what I should wear and what I shouldn't!
Now I wonder whatever happened to all that patience mother had,
I am always eating too slowly, drinking too slowly, she's always hurrying me nowadays.
And as for my shoes.... I have to clean them on my own now,
I never knew that shoes didn't clean themselves! What a disappointment!!

Growing up changes so many things
As a toddler, I had everything done for me
As a little girl, I still had most things done for me
But now, my mother keeps telling me I have to do these things for myself
Growing up changes everything
I pray, Lord, for the wisdom, the courage and the strength to cope as I grow
To learn the ways my mother has taught me, for she is always teaching me Your Ways, Lord.