Who doesn't love to be doted on? Showered with love and affection, smothered by attention and compliments — sounds like the life.
Parents that dote on their children too much might find themselves in trouble down the road; all that unadulterated devotion is a surefire way to spoil your kid. The problem is, those that are doing the doting are often too smitten to see when the object of their affection is acting like a complete jerk. No wonder dote is related to a German word that means "to be foolish." That connection might also explain the use of dote to mean acting senile in one's later years.
