Co-sleeping and the Bible: Why co-sleeping is part of biblical parenting

Many parents oppose co-sleeping for various reasons. The main practical reason is dependence on parental comfort to get to sleep. The fact of the matter is that co-sleeping is how children bonded with their mothers in particular in biblical times. Children shook off their parents in due time.

Christian love is the core of every attached parenting relationship, and is denoted by the Greek root word αγαπαο (Latin: agapao), and refers to putting children first, and parents last, in a convicted way 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 safely and securely in parents. See Colossians 3:21 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 form of respect is not based on fearful compliance, but is based off of restful trust in parents, with children being able to tell parents anything and everything that is on their mind, including admissions of wrongdoing, with children not expecting any punishment or reprisal in return from parents. Attachment parenting was the norm in Ancient Israel and the Early Church. Think a Christian mother holding pales of water, with a young child wrapped up next to her bosom in swaddling blankets, and an older child strapped to her back in a papoose bag, gathering water to cook with and to drink. Boil over, then safe, then store. That was the parenting then, and how children surrendered to their parents.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to damages or abuse, especially child abuse. This refers to the slightest of personal offense perceived by the child, including the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by the child. In this commandment, the Apostle Paul is lifting up the Law on punishment and controlling demeanor towards children. Pockets of Greek Christians in the Early Christian church were still misquoting the book of Proverbs even then. The rod verses written by King Solomon do not refer to spanking a child, but to an archaic form of judicial corporal punishment specific to that cultural and legal context - the 40 minus 1 lashes with the rod of correction, administered to an ADULT child, not a minor child. A minor child could not be whipped, as whippings required a criminal conviction, and minor age was a defense under Jewish law. The point of the Bible is to lift up the Law, and apply it to today's world, based on the context then. The Apostle Paul was anti-spanking.

Children often refuse to go to bed. No matter how silly they may seem, this is because they are afraid of predators in the home, both human and non-human, and that fear cannot be shut off. It is a primal fear in children that is inherent of their nature, and lasts for the first 6 years of life. The only way to accommodate the fear as a parent is to sleep next to them as they go to sleep. 

Mothers in biblical times slept next to their children at least until age 6, or else usually a bit older. Some children didn't sleep on their own until adulthood. This was to protect children from predators, from venomous snakes to venomous sexual abusers of children. Children under age 6 never left the side of mothers. Most men were pedophiles in the context of their own children, but the abstinent type. 

Today, however, not much has changed, except that the danger is less visible, unless you end up having your children sleeping next to you. Sexual predators find co-sleeping to be sexually threatening to them, and will react to children sleeping on the family bed with shock and horror. 

Children eventually shook their parents off. Some children assert themselves later than others, especially with children with developmental delays such as autism, mood disorders, or ADHD. Children always want to prove their independence to parents.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!