溺愛

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 溺愛 (できあい) means doting on someone with excessive, uncritical affection.
• Basic usage: A grandfather dotes on his first grandchild; another caregiver's excessive love leads to permitting everything.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Intensity of affection and the resulting overindulgence
  • 初孫を溺愛している is an ongoing state, while 溺愛するあまり presents excessive love as the cause of later permission. The term is stronger than ordinary affection.