Righteous pampering: Why God wants you to pamper your child

Many parents think pampering your child is the irresponsible thing to do. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents oppose pampering children, saying that you might spoil them. However, the Bible recommends, in context, that parents pamper their children.

Righteous pampering is part of the Christian doctrine of mutual submission. See Colossians 3:20-21 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things: as 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 ultimately refers to a secure attachment between parent and child in the family home. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents are to submit to their children, 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 any form 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 then 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 even took in a few orphaned children during his time. Indeed, Greco-Roman fathers got out the scourge of cords in order to punish their children, but NOT the Christians among them - the Early Christians were persecuted largely for being "too soft" on their children.

Children in biblical times were pampered, and this pampering came in a specific format. For the first 6 years of a child's life, children were in constant closeness to mothers, meaning that wherever the child went during those first 6 years, so did the mother. The Early Christians practiced birth nudity, where mother and child were quartered in the nude, in the family home, in skin-on-skin closeness and intimacy. Children up until age 3, when in the family home, were constantly held, either in mom's arms, or else in a papoose bag when she needed her hands to be free for household chores. Children aged 3-6 ranged beside their mothers, curious as to what mothers were doing, perhaps trying to help before they were ready. Come nightfall, children co-slept next to mothers, in skin-on-skin format, with this co-sleeping lasting until the onset of puberty in the child, which was when children wanted their own place to sleep.

Whenever a child cried at home, mothers cooed at them, before picking up the child, then holding the child in her arms, reassuring the child with her cooing. Children were naked wherever they went, and mothers were naked within the family home, in order to serve her children and her husband, separately. This nude setup made it easier for skin-on-skin accessibility between mother and child.

Whenever young children under age 6 were out and about with mothers, they were swaddled next to the bosom of mothers in swaddling blankets. The swaddling blankets were made of velvet, which was grown throughout the Ancient Middle East. The child was tucked underneath the loose-fitting, revealing dress of the mother that resembled an apron. From there, the swaddling blankets were tied to the left breast, then across to the right leg, or vice versa, or both in the case of twins. Children in swaddling blankets were held closer to the bosom of mothers when they cried. Older children sometimes cried in public, in which case mothers picked up the older child and cradled him/her next to her bosom.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke not your 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!