In a recent interview, she made a rare disclosure regarding family life, and her country lifestyle would also have a significant impact on how she raised her one and only kid.
Reba is one of those uncommon musical treasures because she is genuinely so laid-back and genuine. The 67-year-old music legend was up on a ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma, and is unabashedly a country girl.
She participated in a family band and helped with the cattle when she wasn’t in school. Reba loved barrel racing, and both her father and grandfather were famous rodeo champions.
Many of the ideals Reba maintained with her throughout her life came from her upbringing in the country.
“Mama and Daddy always said to me, ‘If you tell somebody you’re going to be somewhere at a certain time, you show up,” she told People.
“That’s the way I was raised.”
She had just given birth to her son Shelby in 1990 and was already tremendously well-known. Despite having a famous mother, she was aware that she would need to exercise caution in order to raise him properly.
During raising Shelby, Reba faced some difficult choices but remained true to her principles.
“When we would play games or cards, I’d never let Shelby win,” she said.
“He wouldn’t have learned anything that way. I always told Shelby, ‘I’ll always love you, but I want other people to like you. So don’t be a little jerk. Don’t be a spoiled brat.’”
Shelby, who is now a race car driver, was brought up by the GRAMMY Award-winning singer and her ex-husband, Narvel Blackstock, to appreciate others and to understand that no one is superior to another.
“A lot of people have told me you would never know (he) had been blessed with the life he was given,” she said.
McEntire has also acknowledged that, prior to having her son, she was a little more egotistical herself. She tried to spend as much time with him as she could.
“I had the best nannies, and I took him on the road with me,” she said. “When I couldn’t, I would fly home after a concert, get him up in the morning, take him to school and pick him up. We’d play until I had to fly out again for a concert that night. I wanted to be with Shelby. Still do.”
The country music diva has also been transparent about her son’s ADHD. When he was younger, he could hardly get through a book; now, in his 30s, he reads voraciously.
”He’s always trying to improve and do better. His daddy did a great job too. Shelby is a gift from God to me. We’re very close. I was a very self-centered person to a degree before Shelby. But then there’s a little character who you are given the job to protect and nurture and love and teach, so all the attention’s not on you anymore.”
Reba is always happy for her son, and she was especially happy for him when he recently wed his future wife Marissa. The couple wed at Walt Disney World, and the ceremony had a fairytale-like feel about it.
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