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

Many parents think that time-out is a safe alternative to corporal punishment of children. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most parents who instead do time-in do it by way of sending a child to a calming corner, or else kneeling down to the child. However, the biblical way of doing time-in is mammary closeness.

Mammary closeness is the core of the Christian doctrine of mutual submission, with the burden of proof falling squarely on the parent. 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 parent and child in the family home. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents are to submit to their 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 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 was understood in 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 Christian parents who brought their pagan custom of spanking and punishing children into the family home. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishments 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.

Time-in can be done in various ways. Some parents send their children to a calming corner. In other homes, parents kneel down to their child in order to reassure them. However, there is one biblical way to do time-in - mammary closeness. Mammary closeness is where a crying child was cooed at by mothers in biblical times, and from there, the mother diagnosed the need and then met it. Children were held close to the bosom of mothers, and from there, the need was diagnosed.

One method of mammary closeness is breastfeeding. In the Early Church, mothers allowed children to suckle their teat. This breastfeeding could happen anywhere, including even in public. Breastfeeding ended when the child refused to suckle the teat of mothers. When this refusal happened, children were introduced to solid foods right away.

Mothers in the Early Christian churches also engaged in mammary closeness when out and about in public. When mothers and children under age 6 were out and about in public, mom wrapped up her child in swaddling blankets. From there, 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 mothers, and then across the dot to the right leg of mothers, or vice versa, or both in the case of twins. When children cried in public, they were pacified by the amount of closeness they received from mothers. Mothers held their children even closer to their bosom from there. The swaddling blankets were made of velvet, which was grown throughout the Ancient Middle East.

Mammary closeness is ideally done in skin-on-skin format. Children went naked wherever they went, and mothers also were naked within the confines of the family home. When you try mammary closeness with your child as a mother, your only regret will be not doing it sooner.

The breasts of mothers are not intended by God primarily to please men. Instead, the female bosom is shaped the way it is in order to comfort and reassure a child. Whenever children growing up in the Early Church were picked up and held close to the bosom of mothers, their cries were cushioned, and the child could hear the mother's heartbeat. When children could hear the heartbeat of mothers, and were cushioned next to their mother's bosom, those two were in total bliss!

Some time-in is done radically differently than how it was done in the Bible. A common form of time-in is a calming corner. It gives parents a break, but at what cost to the child? Children in such homes have whole posters telling them what they already know about their own emotions. Children will pick up on emotions on their own, without any need for posters pointing out emotions.

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!