bread day/a very honest post/a teaching moment

Today was bread day. The kids always like to help me with the whole process of making bread, but normally it drives me nuts because it's always such a mess. I was pretty patient for a while and allowed Kevin to help put wheat in the Nutrimill and didn't get upset when Heidi kept dipping her finger in everything from the yeast mixture to the freshly ground flour and eating it. But at some point I just got sick of it and sent them to get Daddy to play duplos with them.

It seems like bread rises so fast when you mix it in a Bosch. I think it took around fifteen minutes for the dough to spill over the sides and start taking over the kitchen. I punched it down and decided to stick it in the fridge so we could go to the park instead of having to stay home babysitting bread.

When we got home, I opened the fridge and found that the dough had spilled over again and was taking over the fridge and drying out. It was no big deal because I just stuffed it all in again and had it mix for a while. It didn't take long before it was all smooth and moist again.

Kevin and Heidi really like touching bread dough and eating it (yuck!). I was tired from being at the park, and I was pretty annoyed when they tried to help with shaping the loaves. I don't really care what the bread looks like, but things got crazy and I was grumpy and didn't like having them in my personal space. I told them to just go play because I didn't want their help. But then I thought about the talk by Elder Perry (see last post) and realized this was actually a pretty good job for them and well within their abilities. So I said I had changed my mind and they could help me make loaves. They both got a loaf-sized ball and got to squish it and knead it while I made the other four loaves. I didn't even yell at Kevin when his dough fell on the floor. (I may or may not have baked that loaf anyway . . . ) Then I took Heidi's hands and helped her shape her dough into a loaf and put it in the pan while Kevin squished his dough into his bread pan. Kevin helped me cover the bread with towels to rise.

I was very glad that I stepped back and realized this was a good teaching moment instead of giving in to my instinctive response, which was to harshly tell them to go away. The spirit in the room completely changed. The kids were thrilled to get to help, and it was fun for all of us. I want to have a home where there is an expectation that everyone helps, so if we are going to have that, I have to start now with letting them help when they can, and also remember that they will not always do the job as well as I would like it at first since it takes practice.