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

Many parents think that children need to be punished when they cry. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most parents these days opt for time-out when dealing with their children, usually alongside the occasional disciplinary spanking. However, time-in is becoming more popular. Most time-in is done by way of either the mother kneeling down to the child, or else the child going to a calming corner. However, the biblical way of doing time-in is mammary closeness.

Mammary closeness is the optimal way to bond with your child, and deal with their cries. Mammary closeness 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. This word ultimately refers to a secure attachment between parents and children in the family home. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents are to submit to children just as they would to God, from beneath yet from above, expecting absolutely nothing in return. See also Matt. 22:35-40; 25:31-46.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refer 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 was 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. The 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 Christians 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 as a deacon.

There are many ways to do time-in, such as kneeling down to the child's level, or else direct the child to a calming corner. However, there is one way to do time-in the biblical way - mammary closeness. Whenever children cried, mothers cooed at their children before picking them up, and from there, the child was held in mammary closeness to the bosom of mothers. Children went naked wherever they went in biblical times, and mothers went naked in the family home, with even picking up a child leading to skin-on-skin mammary closeness. 

A big part of mammary closeness is breastfeeding. Whenever children who were milk-dependent were held close to the bosom of mothers in mammary closeness, they were offered the teat of mothers. Whenever children cried, they were offered the teat of their mothers, breastfeeding their child to sleep. Mothers knew when to introduce solid foods - the child pushed away the teat of the mother. 

The bosom of mothers was not primarily designed for men to sexualize. Instead, the bosom area of mothers was intended to nurture children. The moment you try to use your bosom as a mother for mothering, you will regret not doing it sooner. 

Mammary closeness also happened in public as well as in private. Mammary closeness for a child under age 6 was ensured by way of swaddling. Mothers, when out and about with young children under age 6, wrapped up their children next to her bosom in swaddling blankets, thereby giving her child mammary closeness. The swaddling blankets - and the child with them - were tucked underneath the loose-fitting, revealing dress worn by mothers that resembled an apron. The swaddling blankets were tied to the left breast of the mother, and then from across the dot to her right leg, or vice versa, or both in the case of twins. Whenever a child cried, the swaddling made the child's cries pacified in nature, with mothers holding the crying child even closer to her bosom in swaddling blankets. Milk-dependent children were given a chance to be breastfed to sleep in the mammary closeness of mothers. The swaddling blankets were made of velvet, which was grown throughout the Ancient Middle East. 

It is a common belief among gentle parents that children should be put in a calming corner as a form of time-in. However, a mother should always be there for her child, able to offer mammary closeness whenever the child needed something. From there, the mother should diagnose the need and then meet it. Children need skin-on-skin mammary closeness when crying in order for mothers to gel a bond with their child. Children, for the first 6 years of childhood, need their mother to be there at all times for them, as most children that young have separation anxiety, which is normal for children that age.

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.