Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE my mom. She did a fantastic job raising me, if I do say so myself. There are very few people that I would replace my mom with for a chance to be raised by them, and it’s a pretty exclusive list: Dolly Parton , Cher, and Reba McEntire .
I know, I know. I have good taste in celebrity moms . And based on evidence, Reba would be an EXCELLENT choice.
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I don’t have to tell you that Reba is an icon.
Whether you’re a fan of her music like “I’m A Survivor,” “Fancy,” “Does He Love You,” “Is There Life Out There,” or “Consider Me Gone” just to name a few or a fan of her acting career on Reba, Big Sky, or Tremors —
Who are we kidding? You’re a probably a fan of her for BOTH. Who wouldn’t be?
Reba has another title under her belt along with actor and musician: mother.
In February of 1990, Reba gave birth to her son, Shelby Steven McEntire Blackstock, with her then-husband, Narvel Blackstock. While Shelby is 32 now and has a career of his own (he’s a racecar driver!) Reba has opened up with some rare insight into how she raised him.
First, Reba shared a little about how SHE was raised herself.
“Mama and Daddy always said to me, ‘If you tell somebody you’re going to be somewhere at a certain time, you show up,” Reba told People . “That’s the way I was raised.”
That influence on how Reba was raised is pretty evident in what she said about raising Shelby.
“When we would play games or cards, I’d never let Shelby win,” Reba went on.
“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,” she said.
“Don’t be a spoiled brat.'”
Reba figured that her method of raising Shelby had been effective, since “a lot of people have told me you would never know [he] had been blessed with the life he was given.”
“I’m very proud of him.”
“He was a kid who had ADHD and could barely read in school, and now he’s read 10 books this year. He’s always trying to improve and do better. His daddy did a great job too.”
“Shelby is a gift from God to me,” Reba went on.
“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,” she added .
“I had the best nannies, and I took him on the road with me,” Reba explained.
“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.”
Reba added that she sees Shelby and his wife whenever she can still.
“Shelby and Marissa are very busy with their jobs, but when I do get to go home to Nashville, we have brunch or a dinner and see them,” she said.
That’s one lucky kid!
h/t: People
