Time-in: Why mammary closeness is the biblical way of doing time-in

Many parents have had to deal with the ups and downs of childhood. Most children are prone to temper tantrums, or at least crying fits. Crying is a normal and developmentally appropriate behavior in young children. Most parents punish or reprimand their children for crying or upsets, or else place them in time-out. The fact of the matter is that children need time-in, nor time-out, and need it the biblical way - mammary closeness.

Time-in is part of the Christian doctrine of mutual submission. 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. This commandment was intended by the Apostle Paul to lift up the customary law that commands a secure attachment between parents and children in the family home. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents submit to their children as their enemy, from beneath yet from above, expecting absolutely nothing in return.

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, but not limited to, any punishments, reprimands, 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 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 their children into the church. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child in his writings.

For the first 6 years of a child's life, children were in constant closeness to mothers, meaning that wherever the mother went, so did the child. The Early Christians practiced birth nudity, where mothers and children were in the nude next to each other, in skin-on-skin closeness and intimacy. When children cried, mothers cooed as they responded to the cries and upsets of children, then holding their child next to their bosom in mammary closeness. Milk-dependent children were allowed to breastfeed during this time.

Mothers, when out and about in public, swaddled their young children next to their bosom in swaddling blankets, perhaps breastfeeding in public if summoned to by their child. The child was then tucked underneath the backless dress that married women wore in biblical times. The swaddling blankets were made of velvet, which was grown throughout the Ancient Middle East. The swaddling blankets were tied to the left breast of the mother, then across the dot to the right leg of the mother. When young children cried in public, they were held closer to the mother's bosom, and perhaps allowed to suckle her teat if milk-hungry. 

In both public and private, mothers cooed to reassure and validate the upsets of children. Mothers cooed towards their children because that is what primate mothers, across species, do to comfort their young. It is a way of both comforting them and validating them, basically telling them that they are heard and they are safe with mom. Even in Early Christian homes, mothers cooed instead of punishing their children. Punishing or reprimanding children was a violation of church ordinance, and was seen as a provocation to anger - children were instructed in Sunday school to take offense whenever treated in an entitled way by adults.

Mammary closeness was ultimately, however, how Christian mothers in the Bible reassured and validated their children. A woman's breasts are not meant primarily for men to sexualize, but instead are meant to nurture children. For some reason, when children come into close contact with that part of the mother's body, they calm down immediately, and then they can be reasoned with. This ability for a mother's bosom to soothe a child lasts throughout childhood and even into young adulthood.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke 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!