Righteous pampering: Why God wants parents to pamper and baby their children

Many parents want to avoid the mere appearance of pampering children. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents want to be seen as firm and strict. However, the fact of the matter is that the Bible, when understood in context, calls for parents to pamper and baby their children.

Righteous pampering is a part of a secure attachment between parent and child in the family home. See Colossians 3:20 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is a well pleasing unto the Lord.

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 highlighted word ultimately refers to a secure attachment between parent and child in the family home. The context, when understood as a guidepost, tells us how to provide a secure attachment for children. One way to do this is to pamper and baby your child, especially for the first 6 years of childhood, with parents never punishing their child.

The Bible, as understood in context, doesn't refer to any old pampering, but a certain specific type of pampering of children. For the first 6 years of childhood, children were in constant closeness to mothers, meaning wherever mom went, so did her child. For the first 2 years of childhood, children were constantly held by mothers, either in her loving arms, or else on her back in a papoose bag when her hands were full. Between ages 2-6, children ranged next to mothers, seemingly attached at the hip with mom, following mom from room to room, not letting mom out of their line of sight. Whenever children cried, mothers cooed at their children before picking them up, and from there, she diagnosed the need before meeting it. Maybe the child was tired. Maybe the child was hungry. Maybe the child needed mom's milk. Maybe the child needed mom, period. Whatever the child needed, they got it. Whenever children under age 6 were out and about with mothers, mom wrapped up the child in swaddling blankets, with the swaddling blankets - and the child with them - then being tucked underneath the loose-fitting, revealing dress that resembled an apron. Come nightfall, children co-slept next to mothers in skin-on-skin format. Children then went naked wherever they went, with mothers also going naked within the confines of the family home. This birth nudity setup helped facilitate easy skin-on-skin contact, with children experiencing the rays of skin-on-skin sustaining warmth whenever children were merely picked up. 

After children growing up in the Early Church turned age 6, they played freely in the neighborhood, naked. Children then engaged in wet and messy play, exploring the terrain, venturing farther and farther from home, engaging in mud battles along the way. Older children - past age 6 - alternated between closeness to parents and time spent away from parents. This alternation happened until the child wanted free from their parents entirely. 

Children growing up in the Early Church were very much protected, in a sheltered sort of way. Children under age 6 were kept indoors, as they were unable to appreciate the dangers that existed outside, such as venomous snakes and scorpions, with there being no antivenom then. Even today, there exist hazards when a child walks out of the door - namely oncoming traffic and would-be kidnappers.

The depraved and entitled parents who are punitive with their children will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment prepared for Satan and his accomplices!