Co-sleeping: Why co-sleeping is endorsed by the Bible

Many parents think that co-sleeping is the irresponsible choice for parents to make. This attachment parenting item is often opposed because it "compromses" a child's "ability to self-soothe". Most parents believe a child can learn to self-soothe as an infant. The fact of the matter is that this is false - children cannot self-soothe until much later in life. Also, co-sleeping has benefits in terms of child sexual abuse prevention.

Co-sleeping exists in the context of the Christian doctrine on mutual submission. The mother submits to the child with her sustaining warmth, and the child surrenders likewise into her bosom. See 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, dutifully and selflessly submitting to children as they would God, expecting absolutely nothing in return, with children resting safely and securely in the submission of parents. Parents are to submit to their children from beneath, yet from above, revering their children as extensions of God. 

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, stemming 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 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 their child as a quartered slave. Paul here was lifting up this legal context in order to convict 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.

It is common knowledge that children aged 2-6 often refuse to go to bed on their own. This is a common struggle in family homes. Most parents chalk up this refusal to defiance, and punish children for refusing to go to bed on their own. The fact of the matter is that children that age are too young to sleep on their own. Young children under the age of 6 have a primal fear of being isolated in a room alone. This fear is a fear of being devoured by predators. Many parents may say that there is no reason to fear predators today. However, most child sexual abuse is perpetrated by a father or father figure in the home, and is committed when a child is isolated in a room alone, usually at night. Mothers in biblical times slept next to their children in order to guard them against all predators external and domestic, including the sexual entitlement of fathers, sleeping next to their children in skin-on-skin fashion.

The most common complaint against co-sleeping is that it "undermines" a child's ability to self-soothe. Most parents and professionals alike serving children advise parents that if a child co-sleeps next to mothers, that they will lose their ability to self-soothe. But, psychohistory teaches a different lesson. Children in biblical times slept next to their mother until late in childhood, until children shook off the closeness of their mothers, which happened at around age 6-10, or sometimes later. Children do not learn how to self-soothe until much later in childhood, and until then, need their mother to soothe them, usually with skin-on-skin comfort and sustenance. This soothing from mothers prepares them to self-soothe, by meeting all of the child's attachment needs beforehand. 

Children, in biblical times, wore absolutely no clothing, at all, until they became 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 for them nourishment and sustenance, namely attachment parenting items such as breastfeeding and skin-on-skin co-sleeping. In biblical times, mothers slept next to their children, in skin-on-skin format. The traction between the skin of the mother and the child colliding created sustaining warmth that soothed both parties. Simply do this once as a mother, and you will wonder why you didn't do it before. 

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!