Both our kids can be more than a little bit mercenary at times. Neither are particularly quick to give a nice cuddle. The boy would rather thump you one and Fifi prefers clinging dramatically rather than a nice gentle cuddle.
With the pair of them I sought to get round this via social conditioning- if you want the telly on, give me a nice cuddle first; if you want a biscuit, give me a nice cuddle first; if you want me to get that toy off the high shelf, a hug for your mummy is in order.
My logic to it all was to get them used to the act of cuddling and then they’d be more inclined to give them out for free as it were. It’s mostly worked but I can almost hear both the nippers timing their cuddles in certain situations- an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine requires a 9 second cuddle, while Roary the Racing Car needs a full 15 seconds and so on.
Still, a cuddles a cuddle isn’t it?