The attachment parenting traditions of the Bible (our true parenting roots as a nation)

Many parents support punitive measures in parenting like spanking and time-out. Most parents believe that punishing and being controlling with children is in our traditions as a country. We get our traditions as a country from the Bible. Most parents don't realize that punishment and controlling measures are not in our traditions as a country. Child punishment is our nation's original sin, alongside slavery and Jim Crow.

Attachment parenting is commanded in the Bible, as a 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 securely as a Godhead for parents to serve. Parents are to sacrifice for their children, just as Christ Sacrificed for God, expecting absolutely nothing in return from children or others.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: hupakouo) 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 understood in context, as a moral statute prohibiting all forms of punitive parenting, including any punishment or controlling demeanor. In the Old Testament, punitive parents were put to death by way of bloodletting, after punishing their child too many times, and receiving many warnings that their punitive parenting habits were in violation of the Law. Parents who punished their children were charged with kidnapping, with "kidnapping" being defined as the slightest of damages or offenses stemming from hostage-taking - child punishment was seen as holding a child hostage merely for things they did wrong. Paul here was lifting up the Law to a group of Greek Christian parents 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 on the proper Jewish ways of parenting. The Early Church was simply another sect of Judaism, and thus, Jewish parenting custom was Christian Church tradition. 

Attachment parenting was the established norm in Ancient Jewish culture, including the Early Church. The Early Christians, as church tradition, used a special, distinct form of attachment parenting where children were deified. Parents in biblical times worshipped and venerated their children as extensions of God, being struck with reverent terror by their very presence. This had a very practical meaning in Christian homes in the 1st Century, with children issuing lawful and binding orders as to what they wanted and needed. Children could even take their parents to court, and that point, the case had already been decided, with children prevailing in court always over their parents. Parents could not countersue against their minor children, and could only countersue against their children once they were legally adults and baptized into the church. Until then, children always prevailed in court. Parents instead asked things of children from the bottom of their heart, hoping children would get the message and listen to parents. Usually, if parents did show respect to children - which was the norm in biblical times - children listened to parents voluntarily...This context is applicable today just as it was in biblical times.

Children, in biblical times, wore no clothing, at all, until they were adults. Women only wore clothing outside the home, and otherwise went in the nude, in order to serve their husbands and their children, separately. Mothers served their children by way of providing nourishment and sustenance, namely breastfeeding (until age 3) and skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy. The core aspect of biblical parenting, as the Early Christians did it, was skin-on-skin co-sleeping. Children snuggled next to mothers in the nude come bedtime, and when they were crying and needed warmth and love. Mothers never spanked or punished their children, but instead held children close to their bosom in mammary closeness when children cried, relaxing the nerves of both mother and child.

Fathers also played a role in children's lives in biblical times, mainly as educators and encouragers of children. Children were taught to read starting at age 6, using the Bible as a first book to read. Education was largely self-directed, with fathers encouraging children to go the right way. Fathers left the Bible out for the child to find, and once he caught the child reading the Bible, he encouraged his child in their choice to read the Bible. Mothers nurtured children up close, but fathers nurtured children from a distance. Fathers usually struggled with parent attraction of some sort, as most men in biblical times were pedophiles towards their children, albeit in the abstinent way. Fathers only spoke to children as the child consented, and the mother approved, and otherwise, stood by and stood guard, protecting his wife and children, and distantly encouraged sons and daughters alike to read and study their Bible. Fathers held a rod and staff, that was used both for herding sheep, and also for beating intruders. Some fathers in the Early Church beat their children with the rod, and Paul would have none of it in the churches he oversaw. Fathers who beat children with the rod were excommunicated, after being spied on by their fellow parishioners.

We are a Christian nation, founded on Judeo-Christian family values. Nothing in those values allows for the punishment or controlling demeanor of children. We as a society are wrong on how we treat children, just as we were wrong on slavery and Jim Crow. The Bible is America's book, and it is understood in context as prohibiting any sort of punitive measures in parenting. including spanking and other forms of punishment. God chose Israel, and used the Bible to spread Judeo-Christian values around the world, by lifting up the Ancient Jewish context. That context includes the parenting context. Those are the values this country is founded on.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through punitive parenting 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!