Shaquille O’Neal, a.k.a Shaq, appeared on Good Morning America earlier this week to talk about his parenting philosophy. Read on to see what the retired NBA player said about giving money to his kids!
“My motto is ‘you have to get three degrees to touch some of my cheese,” Shaq told the show’s co-hosts. The celebrity father was referring to spoiling his kids. Shaq made it clear that he was not against giving his kids the finer things in life. The star dad, however, does stress the importance of hard work.
Have a great #GMADay everyone!https://t.co/LUKfafEEKb pic.twitter.com/oKzpNyS20q
— Good Morning America (@GMA) January 9, 2019
One O’Neal kid who has taken advantage of his father’s rules is Shareef. “He’s a great kid, does great in school,” Shaq shared. “I kinda set myself up for it,” he explained. “So I said, ‘Son, you get all A’s you can get any car you want. I get a call from him and he said, ‘Dad, I’m at the Mercedes-Benz store, so I said, ‘Okay, I’m gonna take care of it but come to my office.’ And when he got to my office, I said, ‘Son, I’m rich. We’re not rich. I said, ‘I know I said that, but you need to go to Chevrolet, Ford, or Mustang.”
Some may say that Shaq is too hard on his kids in the way of academics. There is a reason for the celebrity father’s adamant position, though.
“You can have all the money in the world, but if you don’t have [an] education, you can’t make it grow,” Shaq shared. “I didn’t want to be like 80% of the athletes who stop playing and have nothing. I don’t want to be part of that statistic. So I educated myself. I want that for my kids, too.”
Shaquille O’Neal has five kids with his ex-wife, Shaunie O’Neal. Stay tuned for more celebrity family news!
Photo: Getty Images
