smother-love

(Psychology) informal a relationship between a parent and child in which the parent is over-protective to the extent that the child's normal psychological development is inhibited

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Translations

smother-love

n (inf) → übertriebene Mutterliebe

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

References in periodicals archive ?

Now this smother-love syndrome is spreading like a virus over here.

Learning to let them go

Blimey, Ivor Novello's headline-hogging mother Madame Clara offers a deadly warning of what smother-love can do.

Blame the Yanks for ruining Mother's Day

The so-called "smother-love" of mothers was the main element in the development of gender inappropriate behavior of little boys, according to the literature.

A "real boy" and not a sissy: gender, childhood, and masculinity, 1890-1940

Meanwhile, the Zoe/Charity/Chris love triangle is still going on, and this week Charity decides to get away from Zoe's smother-love and go on holiday with Chris.