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

Many parents punish their children when they cry. This reflects a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents believe that children deserve punishment when they cry at the wrong time. The fact of the matter is thar children need a time-in with mothers, in the form of mammary closeness.

Time-in through mammary closeness is part of the Christian doctrine of mutual submission. See Colossians 3:20-21 

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. This word refers to secure attachment, meaning a secure attachment between parents and children is commanded by God. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents submit to their children from beneath yet from above.

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. 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 secular writings. Paul may not have gotten along with the women of 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 hated largely for being "too soft" on their children.

Time-in can come in many forms. One of the most popular ways is to invite your child to go to their room if they are feeling out of sorts. However, this is not how it was done in biblical times. When children cried in biblical times, mothers cooed at their children, before picking them up and holding them in skin-on-skin mammary closeness. The common gentle parenting advice is to kneel down to the level of the child. However, mothers in the Early Church instead picked up their children when they were crying. 

Cooing is a primal way to listen to and validate upset in children. When you as a parent coo at your child, that puts them at ease, and alone demonstrates that the mother cared about the child's feelings. In biblical times, whenever a child cried, mothers cooed in response, and that alone calmed down the child. The child was then held to the bosom of mothers, in skin-on-skin mammary closeness.

Children who cried, no matter the reason, were held in biblical times, much like a baby was held. Even older children, when they had their moments, were cradled in the bosom of mothers. Children who were milk-dependent were breastfed to sleep, sometimes in public while being swaddled in swaddling blankets. Older children who weren't breastfed were simply cradled, with mothers cooing at the child to reassure the child of her presence.

Today, this can be applied within the context of birth nudity. The Early Christians practiced birth nudity, where mother and child were quartered next to each other in the nude in skin-on-skin closeness and intimacy. Mothers held children close to their bare bosom when in the house, when they were crying. When out and about in public, mothers swaddled children next to the bosom of mothers, in swaddling blankets. When children were inside, children up until age 3 were held constantly, or else placed in a papoose bag when mothers were busy with chores. Children aged 3-6 ranged next to mothers. When in public in the modern day, mothers should take their older children into the ladies' room, and tuck their older children underneath their shirt in mammary closeness, when the child cries. 

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 day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!