To me this poem speaks a lot about the discrepencies in child rearing. One does so well because he was expected and encouraged to whilst the other was brought up to be like mother and make do with holes and repairs and patching together. I first thought it was about the discrepencies of gender, reading the 'you' automaticaly as female, but on second read I wasn't sure. Anyway, its strongly visual and I like it.
Thanks for reading. Yes, it's exactly about that. I hadn't thought about the possibilities of gender issues being reflected in this poem but it's a very valid reading.