cosseting
Treating too tenderly
Cosseting is excessive care or pampering—treating someone as precious and delicate.
The word carries a slight edge of criticism, suggesting the attention may be unwarranted or even harmful: All that cosseting has made him soft.
Parents cosset children; institutions cosset favored groups.
The noun cosset originally meant a pet lamb raised by hand.
Yielding to desire
- coddlingOverindulgent, protective treatment
- spoilingCausing ruin or decay
- nurturingSupportive care-giving
- babyingTreating as helpless
doting · mollycoddling · overindulging · fussing · cherishing · comforting · soothing · caressing
Protecting from elements
- shieldingProtecting from harm
- safeguardingPreventing harm or loss
- guardingActively protecting something
- harboringConcealing or protecting someone
insulating · cocooning · nestling · enveloping · wrapping · buffering · preserving · securing
indulgence
Yielding to desire
- coddlingOverindulgent, protective treatment
- spoilingCausing ruin or decay
- nurturingSupportive care-giving
babying · doting · mollycoddling · overindulging · fussing · cherishing · comforting · soothing · caressing · petting
sheltering
Protecting from elements
- shieldingProtecting from harm
- safeguardingPreventing harm or loss
- guardingActively protecting something
harboring · insulating · cocooning · nestling · enveloping · wrapping · buffering · preserving · securing · cushioning
- overparentinghelicopter parenting, helicopter parent, overprotective, overprotection, overprotecting
cossetingneglecting
Failing to attend to
ignoring · abandoning · disregarding · forsaking · overlooking
cossetingtoughening
Making more resistant
hardening · exposing · disciplining · roughening · inuring
cossetingmistreating
Treating someone poorly
abusing · maltreating · hardening · toughening · roughing up