He was a sloppy eater
And he made a lot of noise.
He set a bad example
Before their two little boys.

Then one day he broke his plate
And it made them both quite mad.
They called him Bumbling Fool…
They both yelled that he was bad.

They sat him in a corner
And there he would eat his meals;
Where they could clean more easily,
All his messes and his spills.

They got him a wooden bowl
And they bought a wooden cup.
Things he couldn’t quickly break
That were easy to clean up.

Through this awful sad ordeal,
Not one word did Grandpa say,
For he loved his two grandsons,
He would not be sent away.

Then one day, the two small boys
Brought in several scraps of wood.
The mother and the daddy
Watched the boys from where they stood.

“Just what are you guys making?”
The dad was the first to ask.
“From the looks of your endeavors,
It’s quite a serious task.”

The answer that they gave him
Left the mom and dad both cold,
“We’re just making wooden bowls,
For when you and Mom get old.”

Abuse of parents has become a frequent occurrence in our fast-paced society. When parents become a burden, their children, or their children’s spouses, often resent them. If the abuse and ridicule are carried on in front of the grandchildren, the parents may well find themselves treated in the same way when they become senior citizens. In the words of Barbara Bush, when asked about the antics of her grandchildren (The twin daughters of President Bush Jr.), “What goes around comes around.”