Righteous apology: Why to always apologize to apologize to your child for hurt feelings

Many parents oppose apologizing to their children. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents need an attitude adjustment on this issue. Parents need to apologize to their child for hurting their feelings. Refusal to apologize to your child for hurt feelings can be seen as child abuse.

God's Law on child abuse is spelled out in Colossians 3:21 KJV:

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers here to offenses or damages, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement. It is not enough to stop spanking or punishing your child. You need to avoid offense in children. Avoiding offense in children is the same as avoiding offense in other adults. Just as hurt feelings are inevitable in relations between adults, hurt feelings are also inevitable in children when dealing with them. The key to avoiding offense in children is to be willing to apologize for hurting your child's feelings. Usually, all that is necessary is a reassurance of good intent coming from parents, in the form of a half-apology, for hurting their feelings with a limit not set our of anger, such as "I'm sorry, but I had to set X limit for Y reasons". However, if you ever lose your cool with your child as a parent, including while setting limits, you definitely need to give a formal apology for hurting your child's feelings with your anger, such as "I apologize for losing my temper with you", and then commit never to losing your cool with your child ever again, as losing your cool with your child alone is entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. However, even refusing to apologize to your child is a form of entitlement, and was understood as such in the Early Church. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, with the Apostle Paul here convicting a group of Greek Christian parents who brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, which is a Latin phrase roughly translating to "power to the parent", namely the power to impose punitive sanctions on children, such as spanking or other forms of punishment. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punitive parenting in his secular writings. However, any personal offense perceived by a child was seen as child abuse then. Attachment parenting was banned under Roman law, but the Early Christians did it anyway, obeying God over men.

Righteous apology, as an acronym, refers to a parent's duty to apologize to their child whenever you hurt their feelings. When you refuse to apologize for hurting your child's feelings, that counts as an offense. Any time you offend a child, including with the enumerated offenses, it is a form of entitlement. When accused of a moral crime, you need to answer to the court of your accusator. Offense in and of itself is a violation of the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, in which case you should answer to the court of the offended party by being the first to apologize.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger though 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!