Exactly. It’s all about the power.
I honestly do not understand why women don’t get that their might makes right argument has some obvious pitfalls in it. Being physically less powerful than men themselves you would think they would instinctively understand this dynamic. Would they like it if a man said “I could beat you to a pulp but I have decided not to. Don’t you feel special?”
I don’t think this is what the author intended to convey but she is unintentionally telling her child that his life was/is in her hands and that she could have terminated his life ... which technically is the case for any child-adult situation or anyone with a physical advantage over another, but why say it?