Shaquille O’Neal grew up knowing exactly what it felt like to be hit by parents. He’s been very open about the fact that his father, Sgt. Philip Harrison, used to ‘discipline’ him. Especially whenever he felt as though that was the only way. Most recently, Deion Sanders, a man who built up his net worth to $50,000,000 through his dedication to the NFL, took to social media. He spoke about his views on hitting children and Shaq seemed to resonate with the message being put forth by him.
Advertisement
Usually, when people open up about the fact that they were hit as children, it comes from a very somber place, emotionally. Shaq is very different from these people as he has repeatedly stated that he did not mind being hit as a child because he felt as though he was being straightened out and put onto the right path.
His father, Philip Harrison, was an army sergeant and so his way of raising Shaq was much different from the way other parents did. And with the way O’Neal talks about him, he holds no resentment whatsoever.
Shaquille O’Neal puts up Deion Sanders’ post on his story
Deion Sanders seems to be just as old school as Shaquille O’Neal when it comes to parenting your children. Shaq has 6 children in total and Deion has 5. It’s clear that they’re trying to carry on what their parents did with them in terms of disciplining them.
“My parents spanked me as a child. As a result, I now suffer from a psychological condition known as ‘respect for others’,” wrote Deion on his Instagram. Shaquille O’Neal seems to have been so moved by this that he took to his Instagram story to repost this.
O’Neal having grown up in an old school household led to him turning out the way he did. He treats everybody around him with a certain level of respect and dignity. He clearly cares for his family and loved ones. Whether it’s right to hit your kids or not is a debate that will rage on. However, using Shaq as a sole example may have people more inclined to discipline their children if the need were to arise.
Shaq’s father once hit him for trying to lay the ball up
Shaq grew up idolizing the likes of Magic Johnson and Julius Erving. The latter was actually his favorite player growing up. Watching Dr. J play in person with his father at a young age motivated him to take up basketball.
However, during a high school game, he tried to lay the ball up with finesse the way Erving used to. He missed the lay-up and Harrison immediately took him out of the game. He also hit and yelled at him to use his size to dunk the ball. Shaq admitted that it was this incident that led him to throw down dunks with ferocity.
