Author: H. Wallace Goddard

Wally Goddard is a retired professor of Family Life having served in Arkansas and Alabama. He developed programs on personal well-being, marriage, and parenting. He is well known for his many creative family programs, including The Marriage Garden, The Parenting Journey, and Blueprint for Happiness. Wally has authored or co-authored several books including Between Parent and Child, The Soft-Spoken Parent, and Drawing Heaven into Your Marriage. He has been recognized by his colleagues with several awards including the Outstanding Family Life Educator Award. Wally and his wife, Nancy, have three adult children, fourteen grandchildren, and have cared for many foster children over the years. Wally describes Nancy as the finest human being he has ever known.

Wally’s thoughts:

Thanks to all who share their thoughts and questions.

Thanks to Candleman for sharing his book recommendations. From his suggestions I have added to my list of books to order and read.

I would like to respond to Mark’s searching … Read more

Satan’s Shell Game

Satan may not be intelligent but he is certainly strategic. He strikes at the most vital functions of society. Even then he is not content to get us acting foolishly; he prods us to celebrate foolishness. He is able to … Read more

The Human Relations Cure

So, what do you do when your adult step-son is a cad, demanding lots and acting rudely whenever he is around? He is quite willing to be vulgar and to mock the food I serve when there is a family … Read more

When We Ask the Wrong Question We Always Get the Wrong Answer

Recently I served on a panel at a parenting conference. At the end of the panelists’ presentations we invited questions from the audience. A young and earnest mother with a baby in her arms asked, “I have a 6-year-old boy … Read more

Yin and Yang in Parenting

There are many problems in parenting that require the wisdom of Solomon. Imagine sibling rivalry—bickering, hurting, spitefulness, jockeying—not a pretty sight. It is almost universal in this world. As we wrestle with such behavior, we are wise to turn to … Read more

An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth A Ton of Correction

An anxious mother posed the question that troubled her: “What can you do when your child wanders off? When you find her again, how do you teach her never to do that again?”

For this mother the question was not … Read more

How Can I Get My Kids to Do What They’re Supposed to Do?

Motivation is the timeless parenting question. How can I get my kids to do what they’re supposed to do? There are at least three options.

The first is force. Using threats and power, parents can often get their children to … Read more

What Will We Do with Our Teens?

I was listening to the radio as I drove. The respected commentator on a respected station invited listeners to call in and tell of stupid things they had seen teenagers do. He himself gladly shared experiences of teen incompetence. Many … Read more

One Answer to Every Parenting Problem

There are a lot of challenging questions that parents ask about childrearing. “How can I get my child to eat?” “How can I get my child to do chores?” “How can I get the children to get along?” “How can … Read more

Something Better Than Truth in Parenting

I struggled for a long time to find a clear interpretation of a phrase in scripture that seems very significant.

No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long