Reba McEntire's Dad Had 3 Simple Rules Growing Up: "You Would Never Catch Us Kids..."
"The few rules he did have were important ones," the Happy's Place star said of her late father, Clark McEntire.
As a Grammy-winning country music legend, the star of NBC's Happy's Place, and a Coach on The Voice, Reba McEntire has one heck of a strong work ethic. And it's one rooted in her childhood, growing up on a ranch in Oklahoma and following simple rules enforced by her father, Clark McEntire.
Raised to balance hard work and fun, the "Consider Me Gone" singer and her three siblings — Alice, Pake, and Susie — would never dare break their father's rules as they were growing up.
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Reba McEntire and her siblings would never break their dad's simple but "important" rules
In McEntire's book, Not That Fancy, the country legend shared that her father, a champion steer roper who passed away in 2014, enforced only a few simple rules during her childhood.
“Daddy didn’t have lots of rules because he trusted us to do the right thing," she read in an excerpt. "But the few rules he did have were important ones and you would never catch us kids breaking them. #1. Don’t play cards in the daytime. #2. Don’t watch TV in the daytime. #3. Don’t count your money in front of others."
"The daytime was for work and the evenings were for fun," she added. "And I do think that concept still holds true — we work hard and we play hard, not sure about the rest."
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McEntire's father also taught them a simple morning habit that the "I'm a Survivor" singer carried on with her own son, Shelby Blackstock. “Daddy made us kids all make our beds when we got out of it in the morning, and that’s what I do still today," she told Better Homes & Gardens. “I taught Shelby the same thing. It’s very important to make your bed in the morning, that is a standing rule."
Reba McEntire grew up working on her family's cattle ranch in Oklahoma
McEntire and her siblings all learned the value of a hard day's work at a young age, helping out on the family's 8,000-acre cattle ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma. In fact, McEntire learned how to drive long before high school and competed in rodeos for many years before her music career took off.
“I began working on our ranch at age 5,” she told the Wall Street Journal. “If Daddy needed a driver to move grain in his pickup truck, he came in and got whoever was there ... I was so little that Daddy put a 50-pound feed sack on the driver’s seat before putting me on top of it. I’d be on my knees to work the steering wheel.”
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While it was definitely hard work, McEntire loved it. "I was one of Daddy's hired hands, and I was paid by room and board. So it was a rough way of life, but it taught me a lot," she shared in an interview with News 9. "I love Oklahoma, the heritage, the history, everything about it I love."
