Black Friday: How to deal with crying and misbehavior in public

Today is Black Friday. Today, the profit margins of businesses nationwide can be expected to go into the black, with Christmas spending on gifts and other assortments stimulating the economy. Black Friday is a hectic day for everyone, and that includes children. Most parents punish their children for crying or engaging in misbehavior in public. Children are expected, from a young age, to be peaceable and orderly, when they can't possibly be due to their age and developmental level.

Punishing a child for misbehaving in public is a moral crime in and of itself, and comes from entitlement, namely parental entitlement. The Greek root word denoting entitlement, including parental entitlement, and cross-referencing the Tenth Commandment, is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and refers to, officially speaking, wanting things from children, to the point of imposition. Unofficially speaking, parental entitlement refers to wanting things from children, period. Wanting to control your child's behavior and demeanor in public is controlling demeanor, thus entitlement on your part as a parent. Children are going to cry, and they are going to do things considered improper under our norms, and you are just going to have to deal with it, and not be so entitled about wanting your children to behave a certain way. Deadly parental entitlement is when want is imposed upon a child, and when that imposition leads to an offense perceived by the child, it constitutes child abuse. See Colossians 3:21 KJV:

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. 

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 context, as a moral context prohibiting all forms of punitive parenting, including any punishments 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 in biblical times as holding your child hostage, merely for things they did wrong, thereby treating a child as a quartered slave. 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 belief, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child.

Many parents get angry when their child throws a fit in public, or maybe spills toys all over the aisle. This sort of behavior is normal in children. Most crying and misbehavior in children is developmentally appropriate behavior. The only exception to this rule is when a child has a developmental disorder such as autism or ADD/ADHD. Otherwise, the child is acting in a manner normal given their age and development, and so "annoying" behavior should be let go, and you as a parent work on that anger to the point where it is non-existent.

A child is clinically entitled, meaning it isn't that they are choosing to be entitled to undermine you. A child wants what they want when they want it, and can't control their wants that well. Children get better with their entitlement automatically as they get older. Children generally don't embrace entitlement, but struggle in it, striving at the lowest level to behave, failing sometimes, getting back up other times and striving to center their entitlement. They always center their entitlement in the way that their parents have their entitlement centered. When children have a secure attachment to their parents, they want to be like their parents, and want to be non-entitled and disciplined like their parents. So, they work at it, and eventually get there. There is no need for punishment or controlling demeanors to "make" children behave. Children are going to want everything in sight in public, and maybe, Christmas might have to come early if they demand hard enough, meaning you'll need to get them what they want right off the shelf. 

When a child cries in public, DO NOT scold or punish them. Simply listen to them and say empathetic things to them, understanding how upset the child must feel. Mothers can simply hold the child to their bosom. Mothers should wear low necklines, not for the men, but so that their crying and upset child can have skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy with mothers. Skin-on-skin comforting strategies can also be applied by taking the child to the ladies' room and snuggling with them in a stall in skin-on-skin format. Fathers should simply stand by and empathize with the child, if the child is left alone with them, but usually, the child wants mom, not dad. 

How can a parent not get angry with a child? Be convicted of the knowledge that you are a depraved and decadent sinner/parent who is deserving of absolutely nothing from your child, or anyone else for that matter, with the sinner/parent being grateful for everything that their children bring them. When you take an undeserving attitude towards your child such as this, you don't get angry with your child at all.

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 ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!