A father is always making his baby into a little woman. And when she is a woman he turns her back again.

Bagnold’s aphorism captures a paradox in paternal love and socialization: a father may unconsciously “grow up” his daughter early—projecting ideals of femininity, propriety, and adult charm onto a child—yet later, when she becomes an autonomous woman, he may long for her earlier dependence and innocence. The line points to the push–pull between pride in a daughter’s maturation and anxiety about her sexuality, independence, and separation from the family. It also critiques how “womanhood” can be treated less as a lived identity than as a role shaped by others’ expectations, then revoked when it becomes inconvenient or threatening.