Pro-social skin-on-skin: How to deal with a tantrumming child the right way

Many parents think that childhood tantrums are deserving of punishment. This is a common view among American parents. Most American parents punish temper tantrums in children. However, the fact of the matter is that striking or punishing a child for throwing a temper tantrum is immoral and counterproductive. Attachment parenting is the most time-honored and time-tested way of dealing with children, with the core of attachment parenting being skin-on-skin comforting strategies.

The Apostle Paul wrote 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 being a Godhead for parents to serve, with children resting securely in the submission of parents, owing absolutely nothing to parents, yet nonetheless giving back to parents, out of grace and not lawful obligation. 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 anyone else.

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 punitive parenting, including any form of 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 one last time. 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 this legal context for a group of Greek Christians that 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 lifting up the Law in order to educate Greek and Roman newcomers to the Christian Church about the Jewish parenting traditions ,which were attachment-based in nature. The Early Church was considered a sect of Judaism in the 1st Century.

Children, in biblical times, wore no clothing, at all, until they were adults. Women only wore clothing outside of the home, and otherwise went in the nude, in order to serve their husbands and their children. Mothers served their children by way of providing for them nourishment and sustenance, namely breastmilk (until age 3) and skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy, respectively. Children in biblical times sometimes threw temper tantrums, and mothers co-snuggled with the upset child in skin-on-skin format, laying with their child in the nude in order to soothe the child's every cry and upset. Children of all ages were treated as crying infants are in our society when they become upset. Children went naked merely so that mothers could cuddle them up and hold them to their bosom when they cried...This context is applicable today just as it was in the days of old.

The abovementioned context can be applied today by disrobing when the child is upset, and encouraging your child to disrobe at the same time when they cry. Most children naturally want to throw off the clothing when they cry, in which case you then cuddle them up and co-snuggle with them in skin-on-skin format.

Skin-on-skin comforting strategies are the easiest way to fall into attachment parenting. Dear mothers, when you are at the end of your wyck, don't punish your child. Instead, engage in skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy with your child. It should feel like the natural thing to do, and thus the right thing to do. You might shed a tear, but you'll know that such parenting is what you should have been doing all along.

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!