Shielding your child from blame: the main role of parents

Shields are a common visual analogy in fundamentalist theology. I am a Christian fundamentalist by personal admission. Shields are commonly used to denote shielding a wife from responsibility just as Christ shielded blame from His Bride, meaning His Church, kneeling next to her, holding her close. Parents are to shield blame from their children likewise.

It says in Colossians 3:20-21 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers provoke not your children to anger, lest they become discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to providing custody, meaning secure, vulnerable rest and trust in the love and grace of parents, with children demanding their every need and right, and parents being beholden to such needs, totally submitting to the every need of a child, with children owing nothing to in return to parents, with parents deserving nothing in return from children. Ultimately, it is a rest in the loving arms of parents, with parents shielding the children from blame, taking the blame themselves for their child's behavioral issues. 

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and literally translates to "stirring up" anger and upset in a child, alluding to the Jewish idiom of "stirring the pot" in terms of your child's emotions. This refers specifically to the moral offense of provocation of one's neighbor to anger, with children being seen here as the neighbor being protected from harm, as providing custody is basically providing for a neighbor that is care-dependent, largely due to young age. This, by extension, referred to the slightest of offense perceived by a child that is perceived through sensory gaslighting. This is an exhortation that commands attachment parenting as a parenting ideal, as parenting manuals were attached to the delivery of Paul's letter convicting the Colossian church of everywhere where they missed the mark. Think a tough guy, with him standing aside guards, with a dark and striking ambiance to the church visit, convicting the Greeks and Romans in the Colossian church of how they have wronged their children. You didn't question the Apostle Paul, for he was connected to God, and you just knew it and obeyed his orders. The pro-spanking fathers probably trembled when told not to spank or punish in any way, as attachment parenting was the Jewish tradition. The Jewish tradition was to shield children from blame, not lay blame onto children, meaning children were blameless, and could not stand trial.

Parents shield children until they are ready, with God's loving protection being a shield where both parent and child, namely mother and child, hide behind, with the shield being a human shield, meaning that of patents, meaning YOU apologize when your child makes a mess in a restaurant, or else shield them another way, by defending them and taking the heat, letting the insults of the world roll off your back. Parents are culpable for the sins of their children, as are all parents in loco parentis that supervise children. The idea is that children are exempt from all blame, and so parents are to shield their children from blame like a human barrier, and then issue God's loving lecture and instruction, having a talk at their level as to why certain behaviors are unacceptable. That is how parenting was then - the parents were complained about, not the children, and a parent who left the child go too far in terms of free play, meaning supervisory neglect, were scolded by another person who caught parents in their foolhardiness through their children. Children were held close beneath the shield, cuddling close to parents, but especially mothers. Child nudity was accepted even among the Early Christians, as was the nudity of the mother, with skin-to-skin contact being the parenting method used to earn the trust of children, and compliance later on. Think not cracking the whip, but more like a gentle nudge or tug from a parent to straighten you out in a non-punitive manner. It is being tethered to parents, snuggling up close to them, clinging to them, which was done to the point of full nudity with skin-to-skin contact in mother-child relationships. Children would lay with their mother, or be held by her, either in her arms up to age 3, or be held in a papoose bag on her bosom and/or back (sometimes multiple children) and carried places when out and about, with the mother wearing a light dress when going to market in the city. This is stated this was simply to illustrate the intimacy between parent and child, namely mother and child, as parents were close to their children, nourishing their developmental needs while guided by instinct, allowing children to get all their energy out onto parents and around parents, leading to a pro-social jurisdictional peacekeeper, and then to self-discipline. The parent is the shield that allows for children to be themselves, and parents the human barrier that defends that rights, being a safe person to run to that shields them from blame, instead of laying blame on them. Children in the Early Christian churches were baptized as adults, and then married shortly afterward, with them only being responsible for what they did after coming of age.

Think an Early Christian mother cuddling and snuggling her young child with both in the nude, but with a shield put up, for wherever the child commits sin, the parent commits the sin objectively, and must apologize for their child's misdeeds. As for children? Half the time, they don't understand right from wrong due to youthful development and inexperience, so shield them from blame, just as Christ took up the cross to shield His children from blame. Now, imagine that shield being a human shield, meaning making yourself a personal dart board for any blame that might otherwise go towards your child. Much like a wife in a Christian marriage is to be shielded from all blame by her husband as a human shield. However, children owe no sexual favors to parents, meaning they owe absolutely nothing in return to parents, and parents deserve nothing from children. Giving without receiving, in a selfless manner.

The depraved and entitled parents will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them burn and be tormented for ever and ever in the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!