The biblical tradition of co-sleeping

Many parents are opposed to children sleeping next to them at night. The main problem with co-sleeping is "sleep dependence", meaning children who sleep next to you as young children "will sleep with parents for life". The fact of the matter is that co-sleeping is the bread and butter for proper biblical spanking.

Every single parent and adult is guilty in relation to children, and is deserving of DEATH and DESTRUCTION merely for existing in relation to children, with parents being obligated to be meek and shamefaced in relation to children, with parents prioritizing the needs of their child before their own, to the point of dutiful and selfless submission to the every vulnerable need of children from above, with children resting from below, with parents sacrificing for their children in the spirit that Christ sacrificed for His children, with children resting in said sacrifice. This is Christian love, and is denoted by the Greek root word αγαπαο (Latin: agapao) and refers to complete submission, leading to total acceptance of children. See 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 be discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to secure, vulnerable rest in the loving grace of parents. Attachment parenting was the norm in ancient Hebrew and Christian cultures, and the bread and butter of Hebraic attachment parenting was co-sleeping, in its various forms. Mothers wrapped up their children next to them in swaddling blankets, up until adulthood. Children were weaned from mother's breastmilk at age 3, with children younger than age 3 being treated as infants. Children went in the nude in biblical times, and were wrapped next to mothers, in skin-to-skin closeness with parents.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to provocations to anger, as defined as the slightest of personal offense perceived by the child, coming from entitlement. This commandment is intended by the Apostle Paul and the legal context he was writing from to include all punitive parenting, namely punishment and control such as spanking and corporal punishment. Paul was rebuking Greek Christians who misused Scripture to justify their pagan ritual of spanking children that they brought into the church. Paul would have none of it in the churches he oversaw as a deacon. The seven verses in the book of Proverbs that mention the rod of correction are repealed verses, as they refer to a dated legal punishment imposed by fathers or other elders as accessories to the religious authorities - the 40 minus 1 lashes with the rod of correction. Only ADULT children were whipped, and it was with a switch, in the courtroom and NOT in a home setting - anger was only to be expressed in a courtroom setting under Jewish law. No child could ever be charged with a criminal offense or civil wrong. This sort of punishment only existed in the Old Testament, as the Early Church did not allow for the use of physical force in a courtroom setting at all, and prohibited any anger outside of a courtroom setting, with children not being competent enough under the Law to stand trial - their parents apologized for them.

Co-sleeping takes various forms in today's society. Most of the time in gentle parenting homes, it is mothers sleeping next to children to help them go to sleep. Some attached parents believe in the family bed, with the whole family sleeping on one bed, getting up simultaneously at the same time each morning, with their sleep/wake cycles in sync with each other. What I recommend is treating even older children as infants come nighttime, swaddling them in swaddling blankets, especially on cold winter nights, but even in the summer, with the child nude (with their consent, of course) in a way that allows for skin-to-skin closeness. You, the parent, become the safe place for a child to recharge. Come puberty, most children shake off their parents in this regard, and want to sleep in a separate room anyway. If they don't, they have a developmental disability such as autism or ADHD.

I believe that children prefer what they are used to, and if child nudity is normalized in a home, my advice would likely work - snuggle with them and hold them against your bare skin. The idea is for your child to be completely comfortable with you as the parent, and I recommend mothers do this, as mothers are less likely to misuse it, and because mothers have been the nurturers since the beginning of civilized society. Attachment parenting is actually more time-honored than spanking and corporal punishment of children.

In biblical times, co-sleeping was the main way mothers especially related to their children. Children slept next to their mothers every night until they reached young adulthood, when they started shaking off their parents. Children were held next to the bare skin of their mothers, in the nude, in swaddling blankets, keeping children warm and cozy. Older children played more independently, but never outside the line of sight of mothers and fathers alike, but ran to parents for comfort at the end of the day, or when they were tired from playing. Overtly sexual games that could have compromised a girl's virginity led to logical consequences such as keeping siblings separated, but many of the games played then had sexual undertones, even if they weren't overtly sexual, and played on girls being "pretty" to boys. It was same-age banter, and was very rarely directed to adults, and fathers who sexually abused their daughters were seen as deserving of death, just like any man who had sexual relations or raped/sexually assaulted a minor child, boy or girl. Mothers were seen as nurturers then, and the fathers as loving and gentle encouragers. Mothers were the ones to gain the trust of the child first through skin-to-skin contact while sleeping next to children. This context can be applied today to the degree that the parent(s) can apply it. Not everything can be applied in a lot of cases, but wrapping up a child in swaddling clothes when they crave it is not abuse - it is proper parent-child bonding.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke children to anger through emotional neglect will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them burn in the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into everlasting Hell and torment, suffering God's Wrath for all eternity! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!