An oval cream relief of a mother and baby beside folded pink knitting and a small wind-up music box.

Original artwork, not a still

Sydney J. Harris

The commonest fallacy among women is that simply having children makes them a mother - which is as absurd as believing that having a piano makes one a musician.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Giving birth or having children, the speaker argues, does not automatically make someone a mother. Comparing it to owning a piano and calling oneself a musician, the line insists that a role is earned through practice and skill, not by possessing the equipment. It is a pointed, dry jab at a common assumption.

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