Righteous co-sleeping: Why God wants parents to sleep next to their children

Many parents think that co-sleeping is the wrong way to bring up a child. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most parents insist that children sleep in their own bed, or else isolated in a crib when they were infants. However, the fact of the matter is that children under a certain age aren't ready to sleep on their own. Co-sleeping also is a means to prevent child sexual abuse.

Righteous co-sleeping 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 to here to secure, vulnerable rest in the love and submission of children. 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 children, in dutiful and selfless submission to children, 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 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 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 their 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.

It is common knowledge that children under age 6 refuse to go to bed on their own. Bedtime refusal is a common excuse for parents to punish their children. However, the fact of the matter is that children under a certain age are not ready to sleep on their own. Children under age 6 have primal fears of being devoured by predators when isolated in a room all by themselves. Many parents would think that predators don't exist today. They would be wrong. Most child sexual abuse comes in the form of a bedtime ritual. This couldn't happen in biblical times, and that is because the mother was right there, perhaps using herself as a human shield protecting children from the sexual wrath of fathers.

The most common excuse for not co-sleeping comes from fearmongering on the part of pediatricians or mental health professionals serving children, with terms such as "sleep dependence". However, the fact of the matter is that children growing up in the Early Church co-slept next to mothers in skin-on-skin format, with this co-sleeping sustaining warmth happening every night, until the onset of puberty, which was when most children wanted their own place to sleep. Even when co-sleeping ended later, it always had an end to it. Extended co-sleeping is a sign of either autism, bipolar disorder, and/or ADHD. I myself started to sleep on my own at age 16, which was when I wanted to assert my independence.

Righteous co-sleeping is the centerpiece in the context of a secure attachment. Co-sleeping, in most cases, happened in skin-on-skin sustaining warmth. The family bed, in biblical times, was completely nude in terms of setup. Children went naked wherever they went. Mothers went naked in the confines of the family home, with fathers also hanging up their robe on a coat rack. Co-sleeping is the ultimate way to gel a bond with a child, especially in skin-on-skin format.

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!!