Family Circle

Things that occur consistently within the family circle influence a child more than whatever happens outside. When family feeling is positive and strong, other influences can be neutralized.

In my childhood home, the art of conversation was taken seriously. Sometimes we would spend an hour after dinner talking around the table. I don’t recall the little ones fussing. Mother would hold the baby and Daddy would hold the next and I suppose I’d hold the next. There was togetherness in it. Mealtime conversation bonded us and taught us to get along with all kinds of people once we were out on our own.

In the Walter Trobisch family, my husband would announce, “Children we’re going to have devotions.”

Our youngest…would say, “Okay, but make it short!” And he did.

Ingrid Trobisch
taken from
Keeper of the Springs: Making Home The Place For Which You’re Longing

Ten Golden Rules About Parenting

1. Parent effectiveness depends on partner-effectiveness.
2. Treat each child as an only child at least once a week.
3. Establish traffic rules: Meal time – Bedtime – Chores.
4. Every child should have a “place,” a drawer, a shelf, and know which toys and books are his. Siblings learn to respect the property of others.
5. The greatest molding factors in the life of a child are the conversations that go on around the dinner table.
6. Catch your child doing something right.
7. If you want respect, give respect.
8. Laugh with your children
9. Have them, love them, let them go.
10. Bless your child.

by Ingrid Trobisch

Does the Family Have a Future?

Thirty years ago, I heard an address by Dr. Paul Popenoe, pioneer of Christian marriage counseling in the United States, who said, “The future of the family is the future of the world.” Though culture and world situations may change, the family still remains the foundations of our society. Does it still have a future?

I know that sickness is often contagious, but I believe that health is also contagious. Our purpose is not to battle disease, but to spread good health, helping good marriages to become better. Every healthy marriage is like a knot in that great net, which helps people to find Christ. Family Life Mission is at work in 16 African countries. I think of the many couples there who are witnesses that one healthy couple can change a whole village. That same is true in Europe and America.

In 1979, Walter and I made our last mission trip together. We were invited to speak at a Family Life Conference in Indonesia where 2000 Christians were gathered for one week to talk about the future of the family. It was the first time that we met followers of Islam who had become Christians. When we asked them why they had become Chrsitians, they replied, “It is because we see how the Christian families in our neighborhoods live in peace. Husbands and wives do not fight. Parents are kind to their children. We want to live like that. Walter often said, “The best landing place for the Gospel is the family and its needs.”

Roland Bainton, noted Luther scholar, says “One effect of the Reformation was to eliminate the monastery.” The home became its functional substitute where “the gentler virtues of the Sermon on the Mount” could be practiced. If monks wanted to earn their way to heaven, Luther once observed, the home would be a better place to do it: it offered more difficulties.

The “sacramental”aspect of the marriage emphasizing the lifelong relationship is at a low ebb today, Bainton observes. While romance and companionship are valid elements in a marriage, they are unstable. If the romance and common interest ceases, the marriage may also. “The wine goes out, only the water is left. Christ does not take away the vexations in marriage, but he does turn the water into wine.”

I believe the family does have a future!

-Ingrid Trobisch Youngdale
taken from correspondance March 2007