Dr. James Dobson--Transcript of Brief Remarks

The following question and answer were broadcast on Focus on the Family, August 25, 1999. Note: Minor changes that do not affect substance have been made to enhance readability, i.e. the deletion of repeated words and expansion of contractions.

Questioner:

Dr. Dobson I certainly appreciate your ministry and also the family values that you have presented over the years. In fact, I remember listening to your radio program while I was growing up, and that relates to my question. In the last couple years, there’s been some differences of opinion about raising children and there’s particularly—I’ve heard through the church work that I do as well as the studies—a certain program, Growing Kid’s God’s Way.

Dr. James Dobson:

Yeah.

Questioner:

And I was wondering, if you’re familiar with that program, if you could comment on that.

Dr. James Dobson:

I am familiar with it, and we get asked that question so often that we have a statement that we’d be glad to provide for you that will tell you what our concerns are about it. I’ve never attacked it, but I don’t endorse it. I don’t feel real good about it. To start with, I’m concerned with the title of the program, which implies that there’s only one way to deal with all the myriad of circumstances that come up in the realm of child rearing. You know, there’s interpretation of God’s way; otherwise we’d all see everything exactly the same, and we don’t. So it’s a little dogmatic in that regard. And secondly, there is a rigidity to it that worries me about young children. Children differ tremendously in temperament, as you know. They come into the world differently. And some of them are easy to raise and some of them are tougher than nails. And you try to take one of those ADD kids or one of those very aggressive youngsters and try to put them in a box like they recommend, and I think you can create some problems. So I’m not out campaigning against the Ezzos; I’m just not their greatest fan.

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