We raise children only for them to become traitors

Everyone loves babies (except for the people who don't like babies).  They're chubby and soft and adorable and easily entertained (except when they're crying their heads off).  Old people dote on them, showering them with treats and toys and funny faces and babies easily express their gratitude, unadulterated enthusiasm whenever the candy-giver and game-player shows his/her face.  Old people mistake this for singular affection and appreciation, a magical connection.  When really all the babies like you for is because you give them what they want.  A juicy strawberry, a riveting game of peek-a-boo.  You've merely domesticated a feral animal and she now knows to come to you for sustenance.

People swarm other people who have babies, raucously spitting out baby talk, inquiring about weight, sleeping habits, and diet, it all feels like a real and flowing conversation.  But then the baby has to be put down for a nap, and all the grownups realize they really didn't have anything in common after all.

Babies grow up to be children, children have specific and contemporaneous cultural needs.  Children are people conscious of social hierarchies and relationships.  That toy that might have been adorable and treasured is now embarrassingly outdated.  That sweater is too frilly and thick, all they wanted was a t-shirt from Target with the latest Disney fad plastered on the front.  Or they didn't want toys or clothes at all, don't you know the newest smart phone renders everything else obsolete?

Children are polite to old people because everyone tells them to be.  They're friendly but condescending, egotistically relishing that their mere presence is a whole lot more important to the old people than vice versa.  Even as children grow into young adults and adults who appreciate the lives of old people, it is more out of guilt than genuine desire.  Even when younger people appreciate the wisdom of experience, there's a bit of humoring involved as the role of caretaker is reversed. A close relationship with an elder becomes something to boast about rather than inwardly appreciate.