Righteous pampering: Why parents should pamper their children

Many parents think that pampering children is the wrong choice. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents think that children should have discipline imposed on them, instead of being pampered. However, the Bible commands that parents righteously pamper their children. Pampering children is something even God approves of! God wants parents to pamper children, not just once and a while, but as a habit. 

Righteous pampering is part of the Christian doctrine of mutual submission between parent and child. Children rest in the love and submission of parents, as parents hold children closer. 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 submission 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 just as they would to God, expecting absolutely nothing in return, with children resting safely and securely in the wake of the submission of parents. Parents are to submit to their 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 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. 

Righteous pampering is what God wants parents to do with their children. Mothers, in biblical times, provided nourishment and sustenance to children, in the form of birth nudity. Both mother and child were naked next to each other, with the child being lathered up in skin-on-skin warmth and comfort by mothers. For the first 6 years of a child's life, children were in constant closeness to mothers, meaning that wherever the mother went, her young child went with her. Even when she was cooking dinner for the family, her little child was trailing right behind her, constantly crying in order to be held. The mother then picked up the child. Sometimes, when out and about, mothers swaddled children next to her bosom in swaddling blankets. 

Children in biblical times were treated like royalty, meaning they were literally seen as representative of God. Ancient Jewish society, including the Early Church, was a child worshipping society, not a child enslaving society. Children were worshipped as vulnerable extensions of God, called to judge righteously the charity and generosity of adult-kind. Parents could not issue lawful orders to their children, and so they pleaded with their children, expecting nothing in return, knowing they'd get nothing in return from their children, but they pleaded to their children anyway, in the form of prayer to the God up Above that appointed the child as lawful authority over them. Whenever children rejected their parents, which did happen quite often in sporadic format, parents pleaded to their children, on their knees, begging for acceptance. Children could issue orders towards their parents, and even sue their parents, and parents could not defend themselves with a countersuit in court. When parents sued children unilaterally, the church elders forced them to apologize to their child for speaking against them. Even speaking against the children was prohibited in biblical times, lest the parents perjur themselves in open court, as children could do no wrong in the eyes of the Law. 

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them forever be 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!