Gratitude for your child: Why to be grateful for your child

Many parents think children should be grateful for them. This is a common complaint about children by parents - that children are not grateful. Many parents think that their child should be grateful for them, when, in fact, parents rarely show gratitude for their own children. It is a fact that most parent survivors of child abduction end up anti-spanking, and that is because they are put in a position where they have to be grateful for their child, and not take them for granted.

Gratitude does not exist in a vacuum. It is the fruit of love for one's child, in the Christian tense of the word "love". Many people throw that word around like it means nothing. Love is a very powerful thing, when understood in the biblical tense, and leads to gratitude. Gratitude is a two-way street, and can be for giving to someone, or receiving from someone. Love is good works for your neighbor, and children are your neighbor.

The Greek root word denoting love in the New Testament is αγαπαο (Latin: agapao) and refers, in this context, to prioritizing the needs of children first, and your own needs last, in terms of priorities, to the point of dutiful and selfless submission to the every vulnerable need of children, expecting absolutely nothing in return, from children or others, with parents being grateful for the good works they provide for children. 

True Love comes from not from pride or desire, but from a place of conviction, where you come to the knowledge that you are a depraved and decadent sinner deserving of absolutely nothing, and thus you become grateful for absolutely everything around you, including your children. True Love is where you know that you are a depraved and decadent sinner deserving of absolutely nothing, and from there pay due penance by serving your neighbor. Children are your neighbor. Parents and other adults are depraved and decadent sinners deserving of absolutely nothing from children, and owe everything to children in terms of service and good works.

Gratitude is mutual, and so is the submission leading to it. 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 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 being a Godhead for parents to serve, with children resting safely and securely in the sacrifice of parents. Parents are the enemy of children, just as mankind is the enemy of God, with parents being subservient to them just as they are to Him, expecting absolutely nothing in return from children or others, being grateful for their good works towards children.

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 a child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by a child, coming from entitlement. This commandment was intended by the Apostle Paul, and understood in its original context, as a moral statute prohibiting all forms of punitive parenting, including any punishment or controlling demeanor towards a child. 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 as any damages and offenses stemming from hostage-taking - child punishment was seen as holding your child hostage merely for things they did wrong. Paul here was lifting up this legal context 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. Most Jewish men of his time were anti-spanking, as were the women. Paul here was lifting up the Law in order to educate Greek and Roman parent newcomers on proper Jewish parenting, which was attachment-based in nature.

It is good to be grateful for your child. That means be grateful for your good works for your child. Gratitude for good works never expects or demands anything in return. Gratitude is feeling happy about doing a good deed, without expecting any praise or accolades of the same. Parents and other adults are depraved and decadent sinners deserving of absolutely nothing from children or anyone else, and when you take that attitude towards life, you start to focus on others, and once you do a good job for others, you feel good about it, without expecting or demanding anything in return. Serving the needs of children as a parent can take this undeserving meaning. 

I myself, as an adult in relation to children, am a depraved and decadent sinner deserving of absolutely nothing from children or anyone else, and thus children deserve absolutely everything I can give them, which usually is just leaving them alone. I am a worthless sinner who needs to earn his worth by being kind and generous to his fellow neighbor, and children are my neighbor. Children are a part of society, and I must treat them with respect if I want to be seen as worthy and pure in the eyes of God. Gratitude is the feeling of being worthy in the eyes of God for trying to be better as an adult in how you treat children.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke 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 Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!