Separation anxiety: Why children sometimes cry for seemingly no reason at all

Many parents think that children cry out of nowhere. This is normal behavior on the part of children. The fact of the matter is that children under age 6 cry out of nowhere due to separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is a normal stage of child development. 

Tending to children in the throes of separation anxiety 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 here to secure, vulnerable rest in the love and submission of parents. This Greek root word ultimately refers to secure attachment between parents and children in the family home. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents are to serve children selflessly 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 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 convicting a group of Greek Christian parents who brought their pagan custom of spanking or 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 sometimes cry for seemingly no reason at all. However, the every cry of a child had a need behind it. Most of the time, children needed mom the most. A common reason for children to cry out loud is separation anxiety. This separation anxiety involved children being morbidly afraid of mom "going away and never coming back".

Children growing up in the Early Church were allowed to feel separation anxiety. Children then let out a deathly, screeching cry when mom was out of sight, and otherwise were seemingly attached to mom's hip. However, most children are never able to experience these emotions due to being punished for even crying "out of turn"'.

Children growing up in the Early Church, like today, needed reassurance that mom wasn't going anywhere. Children under age 6 struggled with object permanence, meaning that they didn't internalize mom's mental image yet. Thus, children younger than age 6 needed mom's constant presence, with mom instead staying put and not leaving her child's side. 

It is recommended that mothers stay home with their children for the first 6 years of childhood. Leaving children at a daycare facility runs the risk of children developing an attachment injury, meaning they cry out for you past age 6, with their crying keeping day care workers on their feet. In the Early Church, fathers brought home the bread, with mothers tending to children. That was because children needed mom's presence in order to feel safe and secure.

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!