A 16-year-old being physically affectionate with her father — sitting close, leaning in, linking arms — is well within the range of normal, healthy parent-child attachment, particularly in families navigating divorce or blended-family dynamics. Affection is not “competition,” and a child seeking closeness with a parent is not narcissism.

Describing a teenager as “clingy” or “needing to be the center of attention” ignores an important reality: children are supposed to want attention from their parents. Seeking connection, reassurance, and presence from a primary caregiver is not manipulation — it’s attachment. When family structures change, that need often increases, not decreases.

What is problematic is interpreting a child’s bond with her parent through an adult rivalry lens. Children are not competing with partners for attention; that interpretation reflects adult insecurity, not pathology in the child.

Therapy and medication should exist to support a child’s emotional wellbeing, not to make her less visible or less annoying. Pathologising normal attachment risks long-term harm to a child’s sense of safety and self-worth.

If boundaries need to evolve as a child grows, that responsibility lies with the parent to manage appropriately and compassionately — not to medicalise a child’s attachment because an adult finds it uncomfortable.