Co-sleeping: Why co-sleeping is central to Christian attachment parenting

Many parents have trouble getting their children to bed. This is a common problem in American homes. Most American parents have trouble getting their children to bed. Most parents don't know the true reasons for children refusing to go to bed. The fact of the matter is that children aren't ready to sleep on their own until about age 10, more or less.

Co-sleeping is part of the Christian doctrine for mutual submission, at its very lowest level of expression. Parents and children submt to each other at bedtime by children being held in the loving arms of parents. 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 to God, expecting absolutely nothing in return, with children resting safely and securely in the submission of parents. Parents are to submit to children as their enemy, from beneath yet from above, revering and fearing children as vulnerable 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 children. 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 that they did wrong, thereby treating your child as a quartered slave. Paul here was lifting up the Law 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 in his writings.

It is common knowledge that children aged 2-6 often refuse to go to bed. Most parents deal with this by setting bedtimes and enforcing them with punishment of some sort. Most parents assume that children are actually ready to sleep on their own, and chalk up the child's refusal to blatant defiance, and that is what motivates punishments on the part of the parents. The fact of the matter is that children up until around age 10, more or less, are not ready to sleep on their own. Children under age 6 have primal fears of being devoured by predators when isolated in a dark room at night. Many parents think that the days of predators devouring children are over, but predators do still exist in family homes - child sexual predators usually commit their moral crimes while in the role of being a father or father figure. Mothers in biblical times co-slept next to their children in order to guard them from the sexual entitlement of their fathers. Usually, fathers were simply convicted of their innate sexual desires for his children, and then masturbated to sexual fantasies of his children. Sometimes, the setup brought out a predatory response where the mother then decided on a divorce, to get the father out of the picture.

One major argument against co-sleeping is the whole myth that children won't learn to self-soothe if they aren't isolated in a crib or bed from very young. Children up until around age 10 are not ready to self-soothe. They need their mothers to soothe them. This sort of setup goes on until the child shakes off the closeness of parents, which should happen at around the ages of 10-13. Think around the time puberty hits. At that time, they usually want their own bed and their own space. Not a moment before then are they ready for their own bed, usually.

Co-sleeping is central to Christian attachment parenting, which is attachment parenting based off of the Early Christian context of the Bible. Christian mothers in the Early Church held their children close to their bosom when sleeping next to their children. This co-sleeping was skin-on-skin in nature, as mothers and children were both naked in the family home, with children going naked wherever they went. This skin-on-skin bonding was the core feature of Christian attachment parenting in the 1st Century, and children, in fact, listened to parents because this secure attachment was in place. Children were safe and sound in mother's arms...This context is applicable today just as it was in the days of old.

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!