Child Is The Father Of Man

Recently i was talking to a friend A. She has another friend B. A's daughter is in school while B's daughter is in college. 

A month back A informed me that B's husband died of a heart attack. I was sympathizing with B, wondering how she will manage.

A told me that B's life is better than hers in the sense that B's daughter is grown up and going to college while her own is still young and in school. I reminded my friend that B has lost her husband. 

A told me that it is a momentary issue. That husbands, even alive, aren't of much value. And that B will get over the death of her husband soon. And that B's life is better than her own.

That made me realize what Mel Gibson was struggling to understand in What Women Want. 

Women, Indians I refer to, are happiest not when you give them flowers or diamonds or when you tell them you love them. They are most happy when the husband isn't there and the daughter is in college.

Of course they still have to get the daughter married off. So they will prefer the daughter to be married than just in college. Even more preferable is a married daughter with children so you don't have the daughter's childbirths in front of you.

And so on.

Essentially, a mother wants the daughter to be as old as possible and she herself to be young. Another friend of mine used to be thrilled whenever she heard someone say that she looked younger than her own daughter.

Wordsworth got it wrong. Mother is the child of daughter 

Note:
Women that I discussed this incident and my conclusion with have all told me that I got it wrong. Even though tthey believed what my friends told me.