There are two main themes in the poem "Growing Pain". The poet, Vernon Scannell, highlights the inevitability of pains and problems when growing up, as well as emphasizes the importance of a close parent-child relationship through the change of the father's attitude towards his boy.

The boy in the poem could not sleep one night. He had a pain "between the heart and stomach" due to bullying by a female called "Jessica" at school. Other than hurting physically, the boy also had to deal with his own fear, which haunted him psychologically. The boy was "barely five years old", far too innocent and naïve to understand the reason he was bullied. Even so, his instincts told him to avoid the pain of getting hurt and so he feared getting hurt again. The boy was "wide awake" since he had a disturbed state of mind. The use of...