Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #344 Introducing Wally Goddard
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast.
- 0:05Speaker 2: It's the podcast for the time poor parent who just
- 0:09Speaker 2: wants answers.
- 0:10Speaker 3: Now, I think some people want parenting to be efficient,
- 0:13Speaker 3: or they figure if you do it right, it makes
- 0:15Speaker 3: very little demands on your schedule. I think that's a
- 0:18Speaker 3: pretty serious mistake.
- 0:19Speaker 1: And now here's the stars of our show, my mum
- 0:23Speaker 1: and dad.
- 0:23Speaker 4: Well on this Father's Day week, or a week of
- 0:26Speaker 4: preparing for Father's Day, at least, we are so excited
- 0:30Speaker 4: for the conversation we're having today. My name is doctor
- 0:32Speaker 4: Justin Colson. I'm the author of six books about raising
- 0:34Speaker 4: happy families. Kylie, my wife, mum to our six kids,
- 0:37Speaker 4: is here with me as we prepare for a conversation
- 0:40Speaker 4: that I'm surprised that we've never done this before, Kylie,
- 0:44Speaker 4: but gee, I'm excited for it.
- 0:46Speaker 2: I don't have too many favorite people, but if I
- 0:49Speaker 2: was going to put a list together, Wally Goddard would
- 0:53Speaker 2: be at the top of my list. Such a special guest,
- 0:57Speaker 2: and I'm so excited that we're getting to talk to
- 0:59Speaker 2: him today.
- 1:00Speaker 4: We need to say Professor H. Wallace Godard. That's the
- 1:02Speaker 4: official title. Wally is now a retired That's why.
- 1:04Speaker 2: He's my favorite because I don't have to call him that.
- 1:07Speaker 1: Professor H.
- 1:08Speaker 4: Wallas Goddard is a former professor of Family Life Development
- 1:13Speaker 4: from the University of Arkansas.
- 1:15Speaker 1: He worked with Stephen R.
- 1:16Speaker 4: Covey on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families, which
- 1:19Speaker 4: was like a follow under.
- 1:20Speaker 1: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
- 1:22Speaker 4: Has been instrumental in shaping my life. I think when
- 1:29Speaker 4: I was in my late twenties and we had the
- 1:31Speaker 4: big blow up and I decided to leave my radio
- 1:33Speaker 4: career and try to be a better dad, it was
- 1:35Speaker 4: actually because I was reading some of Wally's parenting guidance
- 1:39Speaker 4: and advice. This is back in the late nineties early
- 1:41Speaker 4: two thousands. I was reading his stuff on the Internet,
- 1:44Speaker 4: and I was just so taken by his compassion, his
- 1:48Speaker 4: alternate view of parenting. And it happened to marry him
- 1:51Speaker 4: beautifully with somebody who couldn't be more different as a
- 1:55Speaker 4: human in terms of their politics, in terms of their
- 1:57Speaker 4: view on the world, Alfie Kohne. These two people, coming
- 2:00Speaker 4: from completely different ends of the spectrum, have been so
- 2:06Speaker 4: fundamental in shaping.
- 2:08Speaker 1: The way that I lived my life.
- 2:09Speaker 4: And we've got him with us right now, chuckling in
- 2:11Speaker 4: the background as we talk about how amazing he is.
- 2:13Speaker 1: Hello, Wally, Hey, it's good to be with you.
- 2:16Speaker 3: It's always a delay to be with you.
- 2:18Speaker 4: In fact, now we should also mention one reason that
- 2:20Speaker 4: I think that Wally's writing has been so foundational in
- 2:24Speaker 4: fact in impacting the way that we do things, in
- 2:27Speaker 4: the way that I do things, is we share a
- 2:29Speaker 4: common faith, and so much of what Wally has written,
- 2:32Speaker 4: while there are some for secular audiences, also has a
- 2:35Speaker 4: religious slant to it, and I think that that's really
- 2:38Speaker 4: what grabbed me so Wally a question that I've actually
- 2:40Speaker 4: never thought to ask, And this question literally popped into
- 2:43Speaker 4: my head this morning as we were preparing for our
- 2:46Speaker 4: conversation with you. You used to be a high school
- 2:49Speaker 4: teacher and then you did a complete backflip and went
- 2:53Speaker 4: back to school as a mature adult.
- 2:55Speaker 1: Why did you become a parenting expert? How did this happen?
- 2:58Speaker 1: I've never asked, Well, you know, I.
- 3:01Speaker 3: Taught physics and math in high school for years, along
- 3:04Speaker 3: with some other subjects like gifted and talented and et cetera.
- 3:08Speaker 3: But what I found as our children were growing, I
- 3:12Speaker 3: really had a yearning to do it right.
- 3:15Speaker 1: I wanted to do it right.
- 3:16Speaker 3: I didn't want to do it poorly. I didn't want
- 3:18Speaker 3: to feel stupid every day. And I thought, okay, so
- 3:22Speaker 3: why did I read some things? So I read some
- 3:24Speaker 3: things and found there was still more. I took a
- 3:27Speaker 3: class from Utah State University and found that, Wow, there's
- 3:32Speaker 3: a whole world out there of insight. So we sold
- 3:37Speaker 3: our house, we quit teaching, and went to Utah State
- 3:41Speaker 3: University and got a PhD in Family and Human development.
- 3:44Speaker 3: And Wow, what new vistas it has opened up for us.
- 3:48Speaker 4: Maybe that's why we get on so well, because I
- 3:50Speaker 4: feel like I'm listening to ask story what I did
- 3:54Speaker 4: for those who knew to the podcast, that's kind of
- 3:56Speaker 4: our story. I gave up a radio career, went back
- 3:58Speaker 4: to school, started all over again.
- 3:59Speaker 3: A night.
- 4:00Speaker 1: Half years later, I had a PhD in psychology.
- 4:02Speaker 3: Isn't it amazing how it opens up your mind to
- 4:05Speaker 3: things you never thought about. You didn't even know to
- 4:06Speaker 3: ask the questions before, and so now you can think
- 4:10Speaker 3: in entirely different ways. Yeah.
- 4:11Speaker 4: Yeah, all because we don't want to feel dumb as dads.
- 4:15Speaker 1: We wanted to get it right.
- 4:17Speaker 2: Yes, So, Wally, you're a grandfather. Now you have three children,
- 4:22Speaker 2: all growing up living their own lives. But your family
- 4:25Speaker 2: life was a little bit more complicated than just three kids.
- 4:29Speaker 2: You opened your home up to many children over the years.
- 4:32Speaker 2: Can you give us a little background into family life
- 4:35Speaker 2: for you?
- 4:36Speaker 3: Yeah, oh boy, we learned so much from each set
- 4:41Speaker 3: of experiences from our children. We learned so much joy.
- 4:44Speaker 3: We just found it amazing every day to see how
- 4:48Speaker 3: our children were going, and of course we were challenged
- 4:50Speaker 3: by them. But we had over the years about twenty
- 4:53Speaker 3: different foster children, and wow, talk about eye opening and
- 4:58Speaker 3: a tot of so much humility because as we realized
- 5:01Speaker 3: that our glib idea that taking these runaway, angry teenagers
- 5:07Speaker 3: and treating them kindly and providing a predictable environment would
- 5:10Speaker 3: somehow change things quickly and dramatically was just naive. It
- 5:15Speaker 3: was silly, and it takes years to build up that
- 5:20Speaker 3: pain and it takes years to change the way they
- 5:24Speaker 3: see the world. So that experience was very formative for us. Plus,
- 5:28Speaker 3: we had we had a lot of miscarriages, twenty plus miscarriages,
- 5:33Speaker 3: and that was one of the reasons we started having
- 5:35Speaker 3: foster children, was because we wanted to be We wanted
- 5:38Speaker 3: our home to be busy with growth and laughter and learning.
- 5:42Speaker 3: So we had foster children when we weren't able to
- 5:45Speaker 3: have children early on in our marriage.
- 5:48Speaker 2: I wish Nancy was here with us right now she is.
- 5:53Speaker 2: I'm gonna cry because I just loved that woman so much.
- 5:55Speaker 2: And to listen to your story and to recognize the
- 6:00Speaker 2: heartache that was involved in the process of you opening
- 6:04Speaker 2: up your home and being the safe place for these
- 6:08Speaker 2: troubled children just melts my heart. One of the things
- 6:12Speaker 2: that really has stood out to Justin and I over
- 6:15Speaker 2: the years as we've associated with the two of you
- 6:17Speaker 2: is just the immense joy that you find in life
- 6:21Speaker 2: and specifically in your role as parents. And I'm wondering
- 6:25Speaker 2: if you can share with us maybe a few things
- 6:30Speaker 2: that you learned through that process.
- 6:33Speaker 3: Oh boy, Yeah, a few things we learned. I mean,
- 6:38Speaker 3: one was that you have to plan to invest time,
- 6:41Speaker 3: a lot of time. I think some people want parenting
- 6:45Speaker 3: to be efficient or they figure if you do it right,
- 6:49Speaker 3: it makes very little demands on your schedule. I think
- 6:52Speaker 3: that's a pretty serious mistake. Yes, I think of for instance,
- 6:59Speaker 3: when in the evening after teaching all day long, I'd
- 7:02Speaker 3: be sitting reading and I was just really absorbed in
- 7:05Speaker 3: when I was reading and our little boy Andy would
- 7:08Speaker 3: come up and say, Dad, can we take a walk
- 7:10Speaker 3: around the block? And I say, sure, as soon as
- 7:13Speaker 3: I just finish this chapter. And after a few times,
- 7:18Speaker 3: Andy said, d you say that every time, and Wow,
- 7:23Speaker 3: it is just painful to face yourself and realize that
- 7:27Speaker 3: you've been lying to yourself into your son, saying, essentially,
- 7:31Speaker 3: I really want to be a good dad. I want
- 7:33Speaker 3: you to feel like I'm really present, But boy, I shure,
- 7:36Speaker 3: don't want to waste any time unless it's absolutely necessary.
- 7:40Speaker 3: And that's the wrong way of thinking about it. When
- 7:43Speaker 3: you inter parenting, you ought to say, this is one
- 7:46Speaker 3: of the most important things I'll ever do. It'll have
- 7:48Speaker 3: more impact, It'll leave a more important legacy than anything
- 7:52Speaker 3: else I will do. And I intend to be present.
- 7:55Speaker 3: I intend to invest myself, heart and soul into this job.
- 8:00Speaker 3: And so I can drop my book and take a
- 8:02Speaker 3: walk around the block with Andy and not be impatient
- 8:05Speaker 3: trying to get around the block and get back to
- 8:07Speaker 3: my book, but stop and throw rocks and pick up
- 8:13Speaker 3: sticks and enjoy life with that little boy who's transformed
- 8:17Speaker 3: our lives.
- 8:19Speaker 4: Wally, I was sitting here and I'm feeling indicted in
- 8:24Speaker 4: the most beautiful way. I remember one time I did
- 8:27Speaker 4: a parenting workshop and someone at the end of it said,
- 8:29Speaker 4: I've never felt so good being made to feel so bad,
- 8:32Speaker 4: And I'm kind of feeling that myself right now.
- 8:34Speaker 1: I'm looking at her.
- 8:35Speaker 4: She's sitting across the table weeping as we listen to
- 8:39Speaker 4: this profound and yet so simple an insight we have.
- 8:45Speaker 4: Oh gosh, we could listen to you share stories like
- 8:47Speaker 4: this all day, and I think this is why we
- 8:49Speaker 4: love you so much. After the break, we're going to
- 8:52Speaker 4: ask you a few more questions about why this matters
- 8:54Speaker 4: so much, especially in the laps father's day as a dad,
- 8:58Speaker 4: but more generally, just for pair.
- 9:00Speaker 3: It's the Happy Family's podcast for.
- 9:03Speaker 1: A happier family.
- 9:04Speaker 2: Try a Happy Families membership, because a happy family doesn't
- 9:08Speaker 2: just happen.
- 9:09Speaker 4: Details at happy families dot com dot au.
- 9:13Speaker 2: It's the Happy Families Podcast, the podcast for the time
- 9:16Speaker 2: poor parent who just wants answers now, and today we
- 9:18Speaker 2: have one of our most favorite human beings of all time.
- 9:23Speaker 2: We're talking to Waligoddard, Professor H. Wallace Godard for those
- 9:27Speaker 2: of you who aren't so lucky to call him Wally.
- 9:30Speaker 2: But I'm wondering before we get back to Wally, Justin,
- 9:34Speaker 2: can you tell me why Wally is so important to you?
- 9:39Speaker 1: Oh?
- 9:39Speaker 4: Wow, Yeah, it's really really easy. So when we had Chanel,
- 9:45Speaker 4: our eldest, and she was two or three, I had
- 9:48Speaker 4: gone from being the father who knows exactly how to
- 9:51Speaker 4: raise other people's kids to having my own and discovering
- 9:54Speaker 4: that that little baby had turned into a toddler. And
- 9:56Speaker 4: I had no idea what to do. And I was
- 9:59Speaker 4: trying all the harsh, punitive parenting, like the stuff that
- 10:02Speaker 4: most of the parenting programs that are out there talk about,
- 10:04Speaker 4: the one two to three magic sort of stuff, the
- 10:06Speaker 4: triple P parenting, the praise, the positive and then used
- 10:09Speaker 4: time out.
- 10:09Speaker 1: And I was getting cranky and it just.
- 10:12Speaker 4: Was not working, and I was desperately trying to find
- 10:14Speaker 4: something else, and I stumbled upon an article written by
- 10:18Speaker 4: some guy over in Arkansas in the United States. I'm like,
- 10:21Speaker 4: this is nice. I like this, it feels good. It
- 10:23Speaker 4: resonated with my soul and I started reading everything that
- 10:29Speaker 4: he wrote. And he's one of the central reasons that
- 10:31Speaker 4: I left my radio career and went back to school
- 10:33Speaker 4: so I could be a better dad, because I actually,
- 10:37Speaker 4: I'm going.
- 10:37Speaker 1: To get wheepy.
- 10:39Speaker 4: I wanted to be as good as him. I wanted
- 10:40Speaker 4: to be able to do as a dad the things
- 10:43Speaker 4: that he obviously did perfectly because he wrote about them
- 10:47Speaker 4: so well. And so I quit my career and I
- 10:51Speaker 4: went back. And what's really interesting about this is, in
- 10:54Speaker 4: about our second year of me being a full time
- 10:57Speaker 4: student with three kids and a mortgage and all the
- 11:01Speaker 4: stress and all the pressure that we were under, Whally.
- 11:04Speaker 1: Was invited to come to Australia.
- 11:05Speaker 4: To participate in an expo on families. I think it
- 11:10Speaker 4: was in Brisbane. It was called Family Expo. And I
- 11:13Speaker 4: contacted the organizers and I said, I love this guy.
- 11:15Speaker 1: He's amazing.
- 11:16Speaker 4: I would really love it if I could somehow meet
- 11:18Speaker 4: him backstage after he's given his plenary keynote session or
- 11:22Speaker 4: something like that, like if I could just say hello
- 11:24Speaker 4: and tell him what.
- 11:24Speaker 1: An influence he's been.
- 11:26Speaker 4: And the organizer said, well, justin we can probably do
- 11:29Speaker 4: better than that. How would you and your wife Kylie
- 11:31Speaker 4: liked to be Wally's chaperone for a day and you
- 11:35Speaker 4: can spend time with him and his wife Nancy, and
- 11:37Speaker 4: you can take them wherever you want up and down
- 11:39Speaker 4: the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, anywhere in Brisbane and spend
- 11:41Speaker 4: the day with them. And I was like, yes, and
- 11:45Speaker 4: that's what we got to do. You and I were
- 11:47Speaker 4: introduced to them. We took them the Pimpa Mars Strawberry
- 11:49Speaker 4: Farm and had ice creams. We went down to the
- 11:51Speaker 4: Gold Coast and showed them some of the beautiful scenery
- 11:53Speaker 4: and then we got to spend that day with them
- 11:55Speaker 4: at the conference. And we even because they're from America,
- 11:58Speaker 4: they didn't know what pavlova was, so we got to
- 12:00Speaker 4: hang out of the hotel room and share some pavlover
- 12:03Speaker 4: with them. That night, they invited us back to the
- 12:05Speaker 4: hotel room and we got to do that. And I
- 12:08Speaker 4: think that to answer your question succinctly, because obviously I
- 12:11Speaker 4: don't know how to speak briefly kindness, wisdom and incredible
- 12:17Speaker 4: example such humility, and I mean, Wally and Nancy just
- 12:21Speaker 4: embraced us and said, we love you guys, come and
- 12:24Speaker 4: spend time with us. I've written a book at his
- 12:26Speaker 4: house over in Utah because I couldn't get it written.
- 12:29Speaker 1: Here because there's too many kids and too many demands
- 12:31Speaker 1: on me. I could just keep on going on and on.
- 12:34Speaker 4: But that's why, and I think that's why it's great
- 12:36Speaker 4: to have him in this Father's Day week as we
- 12:39Speaker 4: reflect on what's great about father figures, mentors and dads.
- 12:44Speaker 2: I don't know whether you remember this, Wally, but one
- 12:47Speaker 2: of my first memories of that trip was you had
- 12:52Speaker 2: given your workshop in the morning, and come break time,
- 12:57Speaker 2: all of the workshop participate were out in the foyer
- 13:01Speaker 2: area and they were going to talk to all of
- 13:04Speaker 2: those speakers who had been speaking at the same time.
- 13:07Speaker 1: A big deal was a big deal, yes.
- 13:09Speaker 2: And you had your books to sell. And at that
- 13:12Speaker 2: point in time, we had a six month old baby
- 13:15Speaker 2: and here was h Wallace Godard and that's how we
- 13:18Speaker 2: knew him. At that point, you had my six month
- 13:22Speaker 2: old baby in a cardboard box and you were pushing
- 13:25Speaker 2: her around on the ground like she was in a
- 13:27Speaker 2: chutu train. And I've just what blew me away in
- 13:31Speaker 2: that moment is not knowing you personally the way we
- 13:35Speaker 2: now know you. Was seeing this person who, in my
- 13:39Speaker 2: mind was so important and there were so many other
- 13:42Speaker 2: important people who wanted your time, but you gave your
- 13:48Speaker 2: attention was on a little six month old who today
- 13:52Speaker 2: doesn't even remember that experience, but we do.
- 13:56Speaker 3: We because I was so much fun to to be
- 14:00Speaker 3: with someone who's enjoying life and enjoy it, embraced it
- 14:04Speaker 3: in its fullest but kindly.
- 14:06Speaker 4: That experience, I think, maybe even better than everything that
- 14:09Speaker 4: I said, encapsulates why why I wanted to talk to
- 14:13Speaker 4: Wali this week, and why we wanted to be able
- 14:15Speaker 4: to share this particular podcast episode with everybody, Because Wally
- 14:20Speaker 4: has a heart for sharing and kindness, and frankly whal
- 14:24Speaker 4: He's not that interested in the important people in the room.
- 14:26Speaker 1: He's interested in people who.
- 14:28Speaker 4: Love their kids and want to learn and grow, and
- 14:30Speaker 4: he's actually interested in their kids and seeing them.
- 14:34Speaker 1: Light up with delight and smiles.
- 14:37Speaker 2: All Over the years, as we have continued to build
- 14:40Speaker 2: the relationship that we now have with Willy and Nancy,
- 14:43Speaker 2: I often hear Wally, I hear your voice and Justin's
- 14:46Speaker 2: larynx and things come out of his mouth, and I
- 14:50Speaker 2: just know that it is your wisdom and your influence
- 14:55Speaker 2: that has completely and utterly helped to change Justin's heart
- 15:00Speaker 2: and mold him into the dad that he is today.
- 15:04Speaker 2: And we're so delighted to be able to celebrate I
- 15:07Speaker 2: guess our Father's Day, because Father's Day doesn't happen in
- 15:09Speaker 2: September for you guys in America. But to celebrate our
- 15:14Speaker 2: Father's Day and to acknowledge the influence that you've had
- 15:17Speaker 2: on Justin in his role as a dad.
- 15:20Speaker 3: Well, I I'd sure be glad if we got to
- 15:22Speaker 3: spend more time together. Would have loved being with you
- 15:25Speaker 3: and your family. And I remember not only that you
- 15:27Speaker 3: brought Pavlova to us in our hotel room, but we
- 15:30Speaker 3: got to play with your kids and it was great fun.
- 15:32Speaker 2: We will get back there, we promise, so Willie in
- 15:36Speaker 2: closing up, because we could spend all day talking to you.
- 15:39Speaker 2: But ye, I feel like we haven't even started, knowing
- 15:43Speaker 2: that we're the podcast with the time poor parent who
- 15:44Speaker 2: just wants answers. Now, I'm wondering if you can impart
- 15:47Speaker 2: two or three bits of wisdom. I know this is
- 15:49Speaker 2: going to be really hard for you to choose two
- 15:51Speaker 2: or three, but if you could share two or three
- 15:54Speaker 2: pieces of wisdom insight that you think have been instrumental
- 16:00Speaker 2: in helping to create your own happy family.
- 16:03Speaker 4: Bearing in mind that we heard one just before the
- 16:06Speaker 4: break that was just hot, stoppingly good.
- 16:10Speaker 2: I'm stealing another tool. Three is that okay?
- 16:11Speaker 1: I think so?
- 16:15Speaker 3: Another would be to teach compassion by living compassion. And
- 16:20Speaker 3: often we want to teach compassion through a lecture, and
- 16:24Speaker 3: it doesn't ring true when we do that. And I
- 16:27Speaker 3: think of the example of a dad who was frustrated
- 16:31Speaker 3: with his little boy who was playing with legos and
- 16:33Speaker 3: didn't want to go to bed, and the dad kept saying, no,
- 16:36Speaker 3: it's almost time, you got to go. You got to
- 16:38Speaker 3: get your sleep, And I think about how the dad
- 16:42Speaker 3: will only got mad and grabbed the boy and dragged
- 16:45Speaker 3: him to his room and put him to bed angrily.
- 16:48Speaker 3: What if what if dad talk compassion by living in compassion?
- 16:54Speaker 3: What if he knelt by his son and says, show
- 16:56Speaker 3: me what's your building? Tell me about it? How far?
- 17:00Speaker 3: How long is it? I mean, what's your next step? Wow?
- 17:03Speaker 3: Is this a good stopping place? Or do you need
- 17:05Speaker 3: two more minutes to finish what you're doing? And then
- 17:09Speaker 3: let you and me go to bed and let's tell
- 17:11Speaker 3: us each other stories as I tuck you in. I mean,
- 17:16Speaker 3: the way children learn compassion is by experiencing it, so
- 17:22Speaker 3: that that would be a big one in my view.
- 17:25Speaker 3: And another one is to enjoy life together. One of
- 17:30Speaker 3: our daughter ones said to me, Dad, joy is a
- 17:35Speaker 3: good thing, but you've just taken it too far life.
- 17:43Speaker 3: And you know, somehow we've learned to manage some of
- 17:47Speaker 3: the anxiety and fear and tiredness, and we've tried to
- 17:51Speaker 3: teach ourselves to really focus on on the joy, the goodness,
- 17:55Speaker 3: that happy, the connection, and by doing that we have
- 18:00Speaker 3: filled our lives with a level of happiness that's grand.
- 18:03Speaker 3: So enjoying life together with our children, you're taking their
- 18:07Speaker 3: hand and going for a walk. Or when we go
- 18:09Speaker 3: visit the grandkids, Nancy always fills a box with games
- 18:12Speaker 3: that are not any better than the games they have,
- 18:15Speaker 3: but they're new, unfamiliar to them. And she also happens
- 18:18Speaker 3: to take some bubblegum. And the kids love seeing Nancy
- 18:23Speaker 3: and she makes peanut butter balls with them. And anyway,
- 18:28Speaker 3: those little things say we love life and we love you,
- 18:33Speaker 3: and it makes a connection that otherwise doesn't grow. Well.
- 18:38Speaker 2: Since we are celebrating Father's Day, I'm wondering if you
- 18:41Speaker 2: might tell us a few things about your dad. What
- 18:43Speaker 2: are the lessons that you learned that you have taken
- 18:47Speaker 2: into your fathering as a result because I'm parented.
- 18:50Speaker 4: Yeah, he must be pretty good to have a son
- 18:52Speaker 4: like this guy.
- 18:55Speaker 3: I love that question, Thank you for asking it. I
- 18:58Speaker 3: think that my dad is one of those kind, good
- 19:04Speaker 3: people who always wanted to do good and do what
- 19:09Speaker 3: was right. He was also very confused by parenting because
- 19:14Speaker 3: we were growing up and being smart alex and acting
- 19:17Speaker 3: like kids and then teenagers, and I think he was
- 19:20Speaker 3: confused by it and didn't know what to do. But
- 19:24Speaker 3: now from the perspective of adulthood, I see a man
- 19:27Speaker 3: who loved his kids and wanted the very best for them,
- 19:31Speaker 3: but was quite lost about how to do what he
- 19:34Speaker 3: believed was right. He just, you know, in all the
- 19:38Speaker 3: processes we talk about in parenting, Dad didn't know those,
- 19:42Speaker 3: and he had good family, but he just didn't know
- 19:46Speaker 3: the ways to get beyond the smart alecness that we
- 19:50Speaker 3: brought as children. And so I think my dad, his
- 19:55Speaker 3: example of goodness and earnestness, is one reason I wanted
- 19:58Speaker 3: to know more, and the perplexity I saw in his
- 20:02Speaker 3: eyes was another reason I wanted to know more so
- 20:05Speaker 3: that I could do what my dad always wanted to do.
- 20:11Speaker 1: Well.
- 20:11Speaker 4: Thank you so much for spending some time with us
- 20:13Speaker 4: on the Happy Families Podcast today. We appreciate you, and
- 20:17Speaker 4: we appreciate the way that you live and the goodness
- 20:22Speaker 4: that you share with everyone who comes.
- 20:24Speaker 1: In contact with you.
- 20:25Speaker 4: If people wanted to find out more about you, the
- 20:27Speaker 4: things that you've written, the way that you can help
- 20:30Speaker 4: them to make their families happier, where would be the
- 20:33Speaker 4: best place to send them so that they can access
- 20:36Speaker 4: some of your wonderful resources.
- 20:38Speaker 3: I try to post what I'm currently working on on Facebook,
- 20:43Speaker 3: so if they go to h. Wallace Goddard on Facebook
- 20:46Speaker 3: or doctor Wally on Facebook, they can find what I'm
- 20:49Speaker 3: currently working on. We have a website and it's not
- 20:53Speaker 3: up to date right now, so I'll recommend Facebook as
- 20:56Speaker 3: the place that's most current. Well.
- 20:59Speaker 1: I follow you on face Book and I love it.
- 21:01Speaker 4: A quick note for those who don't have a religious
- 21:04Speaker 4: bone in their body, there are some religious themes there
- 21:07Speaker 4: because obviously that's a central part of who you are
- 21:09Speaker 4: in the way that you bring yourself to the world. Wally,
- 21:13Speaker 4: thank you so very very much for sharing what you've shared.
- 21:16Speaker 1: With us today.
- 21:17Speaker 4: It has lifted me again and I'm grateful for it.
- 21:23Speaker 3: It's an honor to talk to you. Thank you.
- 21:25Speaker 4: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Rouland from
- 21:28Speaker 4: Bridge Media, with Craig Bruce as our executive producer. We
- 21:33Speaker 4: would love for you to check out Wally's site on Facebook,
- 21:36Speaker 4: but we'd also encourage you if you're looking for premium
- 21:38Speaker 4: content to make your family happy. Our very best stuff
- 21:41Speaker 4: is in our Happy Families membership. You can find all
- 21:44Speaker 4: the information about that at happy families dot com dot
- 21:47Speaker 4: au