Froebel always emphasizes the essential importance of family bonds in the development of feeling, and he not only instructs the mother to see to it that the child recognizes the family circle, but he tells her that he will realize his “kinship” by service done for the family.
“Family, family, you are more than School or Church … without you what are Altar and Church.…”—M., p. 159.
“That many things are in a whole
Soon dawns upon a childish soul.
Then let the mother teach him carefully
To know the circle of the family.”—M., p. 46.
“Duties are not burdens, duty fulfilled leads to light, this is why every healthy child likes and enjoys doing duties, provided they speak to him clearly and simply, above all inexorably.… See how happy a child is feeling he has done his small duties. He already feels his kinship with you thereby. Cherish this feeling, and it will be salvation and blessing to him.”—M., p. 174.
As the feeling of the adult is called out by the helplessness of a child, so, too:
“the child’s sympathy is roused by the young creatures’ necessities more than by anything else, and among these chiefly by their nakedness and softness: ‘… Mother, the poor little birds are so lonely, I am so sorry for the poor little things.’”—M., p. 150.
And in this connection too comes the warning that feeling must not be allowed to evaporate without action: