I would be careful about this "honest conversation". From what the commenter (giantg2) described, their mom sounds like someone who has pretty serious "attachm

I would be careful about this "honest conversation". From what the commenter (giantg2) described, their mom sounds like someone who has pretty serious "attachment" issues (may not be the formal word for it), in the way she over-does her care and niceness. It seems like something that stems from a core wound deep inside, from her upbringing/environment/generation/etc. From my experience, sometimes these honest conversations make the person even more hostile and freak out to insane degrees. Especially for an older generation, their understanding of love and the language around it will be basically set in stone. So being honest can often trigger them in ways we cannot predict. Of course, not everyone is like that. But I would be very careful about this, because there's a chance it might make things a lot worse. So what are we to do in a situation like this? It's possible to tend to her tendencies indirectly. Instead of directly responding to her gestures (which will likely trigger her -- it is her love language after all), maybe there are things you (giantg2) can do at other occasions that will make her feel loved, so that she's more settled in general, if that makes any sense. Worth a try I think.