Christian attachment parenting: Why true Christian parenting is attachment parenting

Many parents want to raise their children as was done in the Bible. Unfortunately, many websites and books misrepresent the biblical context in relation to parenting. Christian parenting is any parenting done with a Christian bias. Christian attachment parenting is attachment parenting with a Christian bias, knowing that attachment parenting was the established norm in biblical times. 

Christian attachment parenting is commanded in the Bible, in the form of mutual submission. 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 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. Children are to rest securely in the sacrifice of parents, just as parent believers rest securely in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Parents are to be extensions of Christ in the family home, sacrificing for their children, just as Christ sacrificed for His children, with children resting as a Godhead for parents to serve. Parents are the enemy of children, just as mankind is the enemy of God, with parents being subservient to children just as they are to God, expecting absolutely nothing in return from parents or others. 

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to damages or offenses, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by the child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by the child, coming from entitlement. This commandment was intended by the Apostle Paul, and was understood in its original context, as a moral statute prohibiting all forms of punitive parenting, including any punishment or controlling demeanor towards children. In the Old Testament, punitive parents were put to death by way of bloodletting, after punishing their children too many times. Parents who punished their children were charged with kidnapping, with "kidnapping" being defined under the Law as the slightest of damages or offenses stemming from hostage-taking - child punishment was seen then as holding a child hostage merely for things they did wrong. Paul here was lifting up the Law for a group of Greek Christians who brought their pagan custom of spanking and punishing children into the church. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child. Paul, here, was educating Greek and Roman newcomers to the Christian Church about proper Jewish parenting, which was attachment based in nature. The Early Christians were considered a sect of Judaism in the 1st Century, and thus Jewish parenting custom - which called for attachment parenting - became church tradition. There was never any punitive parenting norm among the Early Christians, and the Early Christians were persecuted largely for their "soft" parenting, in the eyes of the Greco-Roman beholder.

In Ancient Jewish culture, including the Early Church, attachment parenting was the established norm. The Early Christians practiced a specific, distinct form of attachment parenting that deified children. Children were worshipped and venerated in biblical times as extensions of God. Whatever you did for children, you did for God. Whatever you refused to do for children, you refused to do for God. Children convicted the sinful hearts of parents and other adults with their vulnerability. Children could issue a lawful and binding order to parents demanding righteously what they needed from parents, and parents had no other choice to either hand over what the child needed, or say "no" reassuringly. Children, if abused, could take their parents to court, and if it got to that point, the children always prevailed. Parents could not countersue against charges brought forth by their minor children, as children were sacrosanct under the Law, as they were learning the Law, and if you are a child still learning the Law, you are not bound by it until the completion of your religious education. Children were seen either as royalty to cater to, or else as angelic beings that could do no wrong, even as they were doing things wrong.

Children, in biblical times, wore no clothing, at all, until they were adults. Women didn't wear clothing except when outside the home, and otherwise, went in the nude in order to serve both their husbands and their children. Mothers served their children by way of providing nourishment and sustenance, namely breastfeeding (until age 3) and skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy. The central focus of Christian attachment parenting was skin-on-skin co-sleeping, with mother and child sleeping next to each other come bedtime. During the day, children ranged close to mothers, never leaving her sight, sometimes clinging to her, with infants and toddlers regularly feeding from their mother's breasts throughout the day.

Christian attachment parenting is about emulating the attachment parenting context of the Bible. The parenting context of the Bible is undecidedly in favor of attachment parenting. Children were offered a Christian example to emulate, and were given every reason to take after their parents' example by way of the warmth and comfort given by their parents. When children are given warmth and love from their parents, they want to be like their parents and follow in their footsteps. Nourishment and sustenance always win children over to your family values, far more than striking or punishing a child. In biblical times, parents catered to children in order to win them over, giving them comfort and nourishment, serving as the enemy of children, expecting absolutely nothing in return. Christian attachment parenting is attachment parenting in the way that the Ancient Jews, including the Early Christians, raised their children.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be forever 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 abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!