commentary, culture, faith, family

the pace of parenting

Now that mother’s day is over, it’s interesting to note that the age of the Super Mom may be over too. In a wonderful overview of this trend, Lisa Belkin notes that they have moved past confessing their failures online to embracing a new philosophy called slow parenting.

The term itself is attributed to Carl Honore, author of In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed. He doesn’t actually use the term, but the final chapter of his book is called “Raising an Unhurried Child.” And his next book was Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting.

I’ve read Praise, which has chapters on slowing down practically everything, including sex, and Honore is no new age guru. I get the sense that he is a thoughtful journalist trying to describe a cultural wave, and being changed and challenged by the project. He is also a dad who wants to slow down enough to recover his relationship with his own children. He began exploring the movement because he was tempted to read One-Minute Bedtime Stories to his two year old.

Continue reading “the pace of parenting”

culture, faith

getting off the interstate

I understand more people are taking the slow boat to China, or whatever the 21st century equivalent is, enjoying the journey as much as the destination.

The growth of the slow travel movement is partly a response to the recession, which meant trips were fewer and shorter. Airport security lines turn out not to be the best place for reducing stress, so travelers are combining their vacation time to take longer trips on trains and freighters, finding value off the beaten path in places like Estonia or New Zealand. Continue reading “getting off the interstate”

celebration, culture

will they serve grits in heaven?

Slow food. It makes me think about grits.

Cindy Dulay, over at southerneats, says “There really isn’t much, if any, difference in the taste of slow cook and quick cook grits. Slow cook takes 20 minutes of boiling to cook, while quick cook only takes 5 minutes.”

I don’t know what she is talking about. My idea of “quick grits” takes an hour. I’ve got grits in my freezer from Anson Mills that takes four hours to cook in a crock pot, a caramelizing process that results in a sweet, smooth taste that rivals fresh sweet corn itself. But you have to wait for it.
Continue reading “will they serve grits in heaven?”

culture, faith

it’s time to slow down

For about five years Katie and I have been slowing down.

It turns out we’re part of a slow movement.

A protest in Italy over a new McDonald’s near Rome’s Spanish Steps gave us the Slow Food movement, which mostly opposes fast food. There are over 800 chapters worldwide, teaching the evils of fast food, sponsoring local events with local foods, trying to create an Ark of Taste in each region where local recipes and food sources are celebrated. Continue reading “it’s time to slow down”