Shaquille O’Neal is an NBA legend and had an illustrious 19-year career in the league. He won 4 NBA titles in this span. 3 with the Los Angeles Lakers and another with the Miami Heat. Shaq is also a father to 6 children with his former wife Shaunie O’Neal now Shaunie Henderson. Their names are Shareef, Shakir, Myles, Taahirah, Amirah and Me’arah O’Neal.
Recently, he participated in an interview where he was asked what life lesson he would pass on to his children if he could only choose one. Parenting is quite a challenge and is a long journey of life lessons. It is quite difficult to pick one lesson as supreme over the others. Be that as it may, Shaquille had no hesitation in revealing which life lesson he feels is most important.
Shaquille O’Neal wants his children to be leaders not followers
The “herd mentality” is a significant problem in the modern world. People choose to behave irrationally and commit impulsive acts for the sake of the group and social approval. The act of thinking independently and standing by one’s convictions and beliefs grows rarer by the day. Thus, Shaq feels that this is something that a parent must help the child learn and develop.
“Be a leader, not a follower…So what I mean by be a leader, not a follower… Basic things parents do is they teach you right from wrong right? So when you’re out with friends who don’t have similar teachings and they say hey let’s go do this. Now that they’ll be a leader not a follower kicks in. You know if you do that you’re going to get in trouble right? You know If I do this I’m going to get suspended. I know if I do this mom and dad are gonna be upset. So that’s what I mean when I’m being a leader and not a follower… When you know right from wrong, don’t mess with wrong.”
There are certainly other values and life lessons one can teach their child. However, Shaq’s lesson definitely ranks as one of the best for children to learn.