Co-sleeping: The core of a true biblical parenting relationship

Many parents believe that co-sleeping is inadvisable in parenting, with the excuse that children might become dependent on the stimulation from parents. For a while there in the early 2000s, the Children and Youth Services agency here in Berks County, Pennsylvania cited attached parents for neglect for co-sleeping next to their children. However, co-sleeping is the most time-honored tradition in parenting, and it has biblical basis.

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/adult being meek and shamefaced in relation to children, for adult-kind has wronged children collectively individually. Parents especially are to esteem their child above all else, putting children first, and parents last, leading to dutiful and selfless submission to children and their every vulnerable need, expecting absolutely nothing in return from children or others, with children resting in the love and grace of parents. 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 love and grace of parents. This rest is based in trust and safety in parents, feeling safe in parents enough to tell them anything and everything under the sun, and not fear any punishment or retribution for it. Children in biblical times felt safe enough with parents to sleep next to them, in the nude. Parenting in biblical times was attachment-based in nature, and children co-slept next to mothers, in the nude, in skin-to-skin closeness. Think a mother holding pales of water, in a sun dress, with a young child held beneath the dress, in her bosom, in swaddling blankets, and another, older child in the nude in tow next to her. That is how parenting was in biblical times. Very primitive. 

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to damages, meaning the slightest of personal offense perceived by the child, including the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by the child. This commandment prohibits striking and punishing children alike. The Apostle Paul here was lifting up the Law on punishing children, in which case the penalties for the punishment of children in both ancient Israel and the Early Church were very severe, with the act of punishing or even controlling a child incurring bloodlust. The rod verses in Proverbs are repealed verses, meaning they do not apply to today's context, as they refer to a specific form of judicial corporal punishment that is dated, and is closely conflated with the death penalty in ancient Israel - the 40 minus 1 lashes with the rod of correction, as a final warning before putting an ADULT son to death, usually for crimes against the state or crimes against children, and never for crimes against parents. Minor children, under Jewish law, could not stand trial, and so they could not be convicted of a criminal act or civil wrong. A passage does refer to this punishment in Hebrews 12:5-11, but the punishment was not practiced ever in the Early Church, as the death penalty was not practiced under Christian law, with church parishioners not being allowed to participate in capital nor corporal punishment under the Roman legal system.

Co-sleeping was done in conjunction with co-mingling in the Early Church. Children in ancient Hebrew and Christian cultures went in the nude, and children up until age 6 never left the side of their mother while naked, being wrapped up next to her bosom in swaddling blankets. The child went naked in order to bring their parents to full equality in terms of level of attachment. Children up until adulthood slept next to their mothers in biblical times. Older children alternated between closeness and free play, but at night, they retired to their mother's side, with children resting in the arms of mothers, in skin-to-skin closeness.

It is a myth that children develop sleep dependence when they co-sleep next to parents. Children sleep next to parents until maturity, when they then shake off the embrace of their parents, and seek to sleep on their own. If this does not happen, that is a sure sign of a developmental disability such as autism, because most children shake off the embrace of their parents in co-sleeping at the onset of puberty. Most children want their space after puberty, and if they don't, they have a developmental disability or other mental illness, and the fact that they want to stay in the family bed leaves no doubt that there is a mental health issue to be addressed by a child psychologist, child psychiatrist, or other mental health professional.

The culture in biblical times was attachment parenting culture. Children were breastfed, on average, until age 3, when they were weaned off, and remained close to parents until age 6. Past that age, they spend the day playing and studying Scripture, and by night they slept next to mother. Children didn't wear clothing then, and that was to bring down the level of attachment in parents to equal level. Clothing, especially for boys, was seen as an adult luxury. The nudity was also to strengthen the bond between mother and child, in the form of skin-to-skin closeness, with children feeling safe in the embrace of their mothers. Mothers also went in the nude at home - they wore a sun dress with nothing underneath when they ran errands. Some of this context may be dated, but most of it can be applied today with no problem. It is recommended in the Bible to sleep next to your children every night to ensure that they fall asleep soundly. 

Children have primal instincts to fear predators when isolated in a room at night. Children can't "get over" this fear, and some children don't outgrow this fear, and this was the reason for Hebrew and Christian parents in the Bible sleeping next to their children. They did it with the child having no clothing on, and the mother being naked as well. Predators did exist, both foreign and domestic. Co-sleeping kept children safe from sexual predation in the home, in most instances. Also, many times, scorpions would come inside and bite the children, in which case, due to lack of modern medical care, they would die of the venom. This history is so engrained in children that they NEED to be held close during the first 5-6 years, so they don't subconsciously fear predators.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger 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 the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath for all eternity! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!