Crying: Why children crying is not bad behavior

Many parents have had to deal with it. A child is crying. Most parents assume that the child is trying to "undermine" them. However, the fact of the matter is that children cry out loud when they needed something from mom or dad. 

Tending to a crying child is a part of the Christian doctrine of mutual submission, with the burden of proof falling squarely onto parents. 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 here to secure, vulnerable rest in the love and submission of parent. 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 Matt. 22:35-40, 25:31-46.

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

Children cried in biblical times, much as they do today. However, mothers then did not interpret crying as a means to "undermine" their "authority". Instead, mothers interpreted the child's every cry as expressing a vulnerable need. Whenever children cried, mothers cooed before picking up the child, and from there, she diagnosed the need before meeting that need. 

One main reason that children cry is separation anxiety, For the first 6 years of childhood, children cried a screeching, deathly cry when mother was out of the child's line of sight. Children cried in biblical times when they feared that mom would "go away and never come back". Mothers attended to such cries by reassuring children of her presence. 

Another reason for crying in children is the frequent use of the word "no". Under customary law then, the general rule was that parents were prohibited from using the word "no" on their child. The only exception to this general rule was if the child was asking for something unsafe, unworkable, and/or immoral. Even then, parents used nicer sounding words than "no", such as "that won't work" or "that can't happen". From there, children were offered an explanation and a reason for the declining of requests. 

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!