If the six O’Neal kids think they had it hard with a taskmaster dad, they should consider themselves lucky their grandma was not involved in their school lives. Shaunie Henderson gave renewed insight into her relationship with her parents. Most of it is very relatable. Her mom, though incredibly supportive and doting caretaker, played the bad cop in the house. That was conveyed through a childhood incident in Shaunie’s new book, Undefeated.

For the most part, Shaunie and the other kids in her house were well-behaved. But if they acted out, it would be the norm to wish Dad was dishing the discipline. Because when it came to disciplinarian mom, “My mother doesn’t do anything halfway. If she hugs you, you know you’ve been hugged. If she hits you, you’ll have a bruise.” Ninth-grader Shaunie faced that bruising attention when she skipped school one day to go to the mall.

Shaunie was busted by fifth period and the school called her mom. Her mom left work and waited for Shaunie to walk into an ambush. The look on her mother’s face was so scary, Shaunie wrote she felt like she was walking into a firing squad. “If my dad had found out, he would’ve been disappointed and upset and I would’ve gotten a lecture. But with my mother, ain’t no telling what would happen.”

Her mom radiated cold fury during the car ride home. The lecture started ten minutes in with an additional, “socking” to Shaunie’s arm. Needless to say Shaunie never skipped class again. And her mom’s policy to discipline as hard as you love is something Shaunie and Shaq applied to their kids.

Shaunie’s kids have to live up to their grandma’s standards

Shaunie never reveals what her parents thought about Shaquille O’Neal. Though she did say her mother was happy when she and the kids moved in with her after the divorce. Because it gave her the chance to take care of Shaunie again.

One thing Shaq and his former mother-in-law would relate about is their very strict stance on school. Shaq has repeatedly told his parents that slacking off on school is not an option to them. With resources like Google and ChatGPT, Shaq expects their grades to be the best. He also made it known they’ll need as many degrees as him, a total of three, to get “Daddy’s cheese.” Whether the kids have flouted their parents’ or grandma’s rule is not clear but they live up to the strict demands.

Shareef attended LSU but left early for the NBA draft. Amirah attended Texas Southern University. Shaqir was a student there until recently before entering the transfer portal. After a successful senior year, Me’Arah will be a college basketball player at the University of Florida soon. Doesn’t look like Shaunie needs to be as strict as her mom with her kids.