Dave Cales is a retired pastor, certified parent coach through Hand in Hand Parenting, author, and speaker who has spent more than 35 years walking alongside children, teenagers, and families. Throughout his ministry, he has dedicated his life to helping people grow in their faith, strengthen their relationships, and experience the transforming power of God's grace. But long before Dave began teaching parents about grace, he was a father struggling to find it himself.

Growing up in the housing projects of Brooklyn, New York, Dave learned early that emotions were often something to hide rather than understand. Raised in an environment where discipline frequently meant punishment, control, and shame, he carried many of those same patterns into his own parenting. Like so many parents, Dave loved his children deeply and wanted the very best for them. Yet despite his good intentions, he often found himself responding to their behavior with frustration, anger, and an overwhelming need to maintain control.

Eventually, Dave began recognizing a painful truth: He was repeating patterns from his own childhood that were creating distance between him and the two people he desperately wanted to connect with—his sons.

That realization became a turning point.

Dave began a personal journey of examining his family history, understanding his emotional triggers, and confronting the beliefs that had shaped the way he viewed himself, his children, and God. Through biblical truth, emotional healing, and connection-based parenting principles, he discovered something that would forever change his family and his ministry:

Lasting transformation in parenting doesn't begin with changing our children's behavior. It begins with allowing God to transform our own hearts.

As Dave began experiencing God's grace more deeply in his own life, he discovered a different way to parent—one rooted not in fear and control, but in empathy, connection, healthy boundaries, and love. He learned that children need more than correction; they need to feel seen, heard, understood, and valued. And he discovered that being a strong parent doesn't mean never making mistakes. It means having the humility and courage to acknowledge those mistakes, repair what has been broken, and continue growing together.

These experiences eventually inspired Dave to write Parenting from Grace: Transform Your Home with Love, Empathy, and Connection and develop the GRACE Pathway™, a biblical and research-informed parenting framework that helps parents move from reacting to their children's behavior toward responding with greater awareness, emotional regulation, connection, and confident leadership.

Through the GRACE Pathway™, Dave helps parents understand how their own childhood experiences influence their parenting, recognize the emotions beneath their reactions, strengthen relationships with their children, practice courageous repair, and establish healthy boundaries without relying on fear or shame.

His approach combines the timeless wisdom of Scripture with insights from neuroscience, emotional health, and practical parenting tools. Rather than offering quick fixes or promising perfectly behaved children, Dave invites parents into a deeper journey of personal growth and family transformation.

Today, through his parent coaching practice, workshops, online courses, speaking engagements, and writing, Dave is passionate about helping families break unhealthy generational cycles and create a new legacy. He believes parents have an extraordinary opportunity not simply to shape their children's behavior, but to nurture their hearts, strengthen their identity, and model the grace of Jesus in everyday life.

At the heart of everything Dave teaches is a simple conviction:

Connection comes before correction. Relationship creates the foundation for influence. And grace makes transformation possible.

Dave also understands that parenting is rarely neat or predictable. There are difficult mornings, exhausting evenings, emotional meltdowns, strained relationships, and moments when even the most loving parent wonders whether they're getting anything right. His desire is to help parents discover that they don't have to navigate those challenges alone—and that their past does not have to determine their family's future.

Dave and his wife, Daphne, have been married for more than 37 years and live in St. Augustine, Florida. They are the proud parents of two grown sons and an amazing daughter-in-law (Paula).Together, they share a passion for encouraging couples and families to develop emotionally healthy relationships grounded in faith, compassion, and connection.

Whether Dave is coaching a parent, speaking at a church, teaching the GRACE Pathway™, or sharing lessons from his own parenting journey, his message remains the same:

You don't have to be a perfect parent to raise children in a grace-filled home. You simply have to be willing to let God's grace continue transforming you.

Because the greatest gift we can give our children isn't the appearance of perfect parenting.

It's a parent who is willing to grow, willing to repair, and willing to love with grace.

Certified HiH Instructor.

www.handinhandparenting.org