Public meltdowns: What to do when your child cries in public

Many parents have to deal with it at some point, if not all parents. A child throwing a temper tantrum in public. Most parents choose to either ignore a crying child, or else punish a crying child. However, this is not what God intends for your children. Most children who cry in public need closeness with their mother in some way, in most cases swaddling blankets for young children under age 6.

Closeness with mothers is necessary for children, and 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. Parents are the enemy of children, just as mankind is the enemy of God, and are to submit as such. This surrender to parents on the part of the child comes with strings attached on the part of parents, with children issuing righteous demands towards parents, usually when parents weren't pulling their weight.

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 other 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 children into the church. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child in his secular writings. Paul may not have gotten along with the women in the church, but he sure loved children, and took in a few orphaned children in his time. Indeed, Greco-Roman fathers used the scourge of cords to punish their children, but NOT the Christians among them - the Early Christians were largely hated for being "too soft" on their child.

How did parents in biblical times deal with children crying in public? Most children who cried in public were under age 6. Children under age 6 were swaddled next to the bosom of mothers, meaning tucked under her loose-fitting and revealing dress that resembled an apron. The swaddling blankets were made of velvet, which was grown in the Ancient Middle East. The swaddling blankets were tied around the mother's left breast, then further tied across the dot to the right leg, or vice versa, or both in the case of twins. When children were swaddled next to mothers, they cried quietly, so that only the mother could hear, and then the mother, from there, diagnosed the need. Some children - who were milk-dependent - were breastfed to sleep right then and there in public.

Sometimes, a child too old to be swaddled cried. That is when Christian mothers in the Early Church did then was pick up the child and cradle the child close to her bosom in mammary closeness. The mainstream gentle parenting advice says to kneel down to your child. However, children in biblical times were held like babies when they cried. Children are surprisingly lightweight when they are having their moments.

A big need for toddlers in biblical times was breastmilk from mom. Most children were milk-dependent until age 3, when the child pushed away the nipple. However, some children were milk-dependent on children until age 6 or even older. Many times, when a child cried, mother's milk was the most common need for a child. Mothers breastfed their children to sleep until the child pushed away the nipple.

Most secular parenting advice offers the concept of separation between mother and child, meaning parents should take a break from their children every now and then. In the biblical context, you got no break during the first 6 years. However, if you indulge in skin-on-skin closeness with your child, parenting will be worth it even as you are exhausted sometimes. Children, in most cases by their 6th birthday, will shake off the constant closeness with mother, and will ask if is okay to play outside with neighborhood friends.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast forever 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 day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!