Sourdough Parenting
Back in November, a neighbor gave me a mason jar of sourdough starter. Since then, I’ve been experimenting, and it has become a weekly habit to make a loaf of sourdough bread. I’ve been baking bread for a few years now, but I’ve realized that the time and effort to make a loaf of sourdough bread is substantially more significant than baking a normal loaf of everyday bread.
First, I have to feed the sourdough starter. In order for sourdough to have the delectable flavor and texture that makes sourdough unique, a bubbly, active starter is essential. So before I have even started the process of making my loaf, I have to make sure that I have been regularly feeding my starter and that it is actually ready to bake with.
Once the starter is ready, I mix it with water, then flour. After mixing the ingredients, I set aside five hours of active time towards the process of building the loaf. The recipe involves a series of folds: typically 3-4, with 30 minutes of resting time in between. Then, there is a pre-shaping and final shaping, and then another 3-4 hours of rest time. Sometimes this can be longer if the texture and shape of the dough are not quite ready.
After several hours of shaping and rising, the dough is finally ready to bake- first, for 20 minutes in a covered Dutch oven, then 20 more minutes uncovered. Once the loaf is fully baked, I typically turn off the oven, leaving the bread inside, to allow the crust to brown. Upon taking it out of the oven, it should cool for at least an hour before cutting into this now beautiful loaf (this is sometimes the hardest hour of waiting!)
It is a slow process. It involves regular repetition, a considerable amount of waiting, and a diligent eye and hand, but once the bread is finished and you slice into a fresh, warm, crusty loaf and take a bite of aerated, spongy bread, you won’t regret the process.
This slow but diligent technique can be applied to many situations in our lives, but I think this is especially true when we consider the work of parenting.
The Slow Process of Training Our Children
A few days ago, I was vacuuming our bedrooms and was teaching my five-year-olds the steps so that they could also learn this skill. My children are little for their age, and our vacuum is quite heavy. I showed them how to turn the vacuum on, how to move it back and forth, and how to successfully vacuum the carpet of their bedroom. They had difficulty maneuvering the vacuum back and forth, and after they were finished, it was necessary for me to go back through that area since they had not vacuumed it completely, despite their best efforts.
This chore would have been easier for me if I had gone ahead and vacuumed the bedroom by myself, letting them just watch. It would have taken less time, it would have been more efficient, and the job may have been done more completely. But these little moments of teaching and training, the moments when we have to be patient and give them space to learn, are of utmost value.
If I did not have the patience to teach and help my kids through this process, they would not be learning a necessary life skill that will help them someday be makers of their own homes.
I have found this situation to be applicable in many areas of parenting—discipline, chores, working out sibling squabbles, addressing heart issues and emotions. The slow art of repetition, of teaching the same skill over and over, the patience to stop and show them again, and the prayer and the waiting for this muscle to build and develop in them, is a necessary tool as we seek, by the grace of God, to help shape the hearts and minds of our children.
Let Us Not Grow Weary of Doing Good
So, mama, what is it for you? What is the skill you are teaching your children that requires patience? Let us not see these moments as interruptions or inconveniences, but as God’s kind grace to help us teach our children all that is good, true, and beautiful.
Just as sourdough involves patience, time, and technique to produce a moist loaf with a flaky crust, parenting too requires these skills as we seek to bear fruit in the hearts and minds of our children. Let us press on with faithfulness and patience, mamas. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9 NIV).
is a Christ-follower, wife, and stay-at-home mom of two little ones with another on the way. Most days you’ll find her homeschooling, cooking, writing, doing women’s ministry at her local church, and dancing along to Anna & Elsa with her little people. She blogs at https://erinpaynewrites.wordpress.com about what she’s learning as a homemaker, wife, and mama seeking to grow in Christ.
Photograph © Macau Photo Agency, used with permission
