Today’s prompt is brought to you by the word mollycoddle, which means to treat someone with an excess of indulgence and attention.

We might all be guilty, to a degree, of indulging a friend or family member with an excess of attention. I cannot speak for every parent out there, but my daughter is a major focal point of my life, and therefore I probably do over-indulge her at times. That said, she is not naturally attention-seeking, and I am fairly fortunate in that I do not directly know many people who are. I probably ‘coddle’ my daughter in the sense that I am extremely protective of her, and I know I need to step back from that.

Some people I have known do seek attention, and at times, I have been guilty of mollycoddling, but perhaps not in the manner you suspect. Indulging someone, and giving them attention, does not automatically equate to affection. Someone going off on a rant on social media may well want attention, but not necessarily sympathy. They may simply be spoiling for a fight, and so mollycoddling in this instance is to indulge their need for an argument. On other occasions, I have seen people frequently fish for sympathy, albeit they have done so in a manner that I feel was rather insensitive to the people who love them. Sadly, I dare say I indulged their need for attention, more than once.

These days, I am less-inclined to mollycoddle. I grant attention to the people who I feel deserve it, and who matter to me. I feel like that’s the best way.