Jay-Z helped Blue Ivy ask LeBron James for a signed basketball

Usually, when we see Blue Ivy Carter at an event, she’s with her parents Beyonce and Jay-Z and she’s behaving like a little adult. Rarely do we ever see her do kid things in public – she’s too busy coolly assessing Grammy performances, shushing her parents or simply watching her parents’ concerts. When your parents are Beyonce and Jay-Z, I would guess that it would take a lot to impress you. Well, guess who impressed Blue Ivy? LeBron James! King James himself. Jay took Blue to an LA Lakers game this weekend and they sat courtside and seemed to enjoy everything a lot (sidenote: I love father-daughter sport attendance). Anyway, Blue and Jay got to chat with King James after the game, and Blue got SO shy when she asked LeBron for a signed ball.

You can see Blue ask Jay to ask LeBron for her, and Jay tells her, “I can’t do it. If you want it, you gotta tell him….You almost got it out. Yeah, just do it.” Blue finally manages to ask King James and of course he was so sweet about it: “You want a ball from me? OK, I got you….You got school on Monday? By the time you get out of school on Monday, you’ll have it.” That’s adorable. And honestly, Blue gets it from her mom too – Beyonce is also, ahem, interested in looking at King James quite intently.

Anyway, I hope this doesn’t turn into some crazy story where everyone is attacking Jay and Beyonce’s parenting skills or whatever. It’s just a cute video of a dad encouraging his daughter to be bold enough to ask her hero for a signed ball.

Photos courtesy of Instagram.

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30 Responses to “Jay-Z helped Blue Ivy ask LeBron James for a signed basketball”

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  1. Hello says:

    Actually, I would have done the same thing. Good parenting in my opinion

    • Carol says:

      I like that he made her ask, and I like that LeBron helped her as well when he told her just to say it and counted out one, two, three. Cute moment!

    • Snazzy says:

      Yes! Teaching her to find her voice and ask for what she wants. I love it

    • paranormalgirl says:

      No side eye for the parenting here. Encourage your kids, especially your girls, to speak up for what they want and to ask for what they want/need.

    • Alyse says:

      Yes, when I used to waitress I used to be so impressed by parents who would (kindly) encourage their kids to order for themselves or come up to me with questions. It just showed that they were trying to help their kids gain confidence and social skills 🙂

  2. Nicole says:

    As a fellow shy kid I am impressed with her courage.

  3. Noodle says:

    Encouraging kids to find and use their voices is a wonderful thing. It starts with little things like this, and they build courage to tackle the big things. Good job, JayZ.

  4. Keekee says:

    He is trying to make her comfortable enough to ask when she wants something, to be a go getter and not just snap her fingers and bam. She probably has little chores already.

  5. TheOtherSarah says:

    Such a cute little girl and cute video. Love it. Hopefully, the comment section will be civil this time around.

  6. Lucy says:

    She is so cute!!! Sometimes it’s easy to forget she’s just a kid. One with an extraordinary life, for sure, but a kid nonetheless. Also, I love her whole look here.

  7. Leskat says:

    This is exactly how I would’ve done it too! As a mom, I always encourage my kids to speak up for what they want be it ordering at a restaurant or talking to a friend or other parent or teacher. It’s good to practice those little interactions and small talk.

  8. Erinn says:

    This was a really cute video. Just the look on her face as she turns to walk away – she looks so amazed and excited, and it’s so sweet seeing celebrity kids act like ‘normal’ excited, nervous kids.

    I actually really like seeing Jay and Blue together – they’re a cute team, and you can tell he thinks she’s just a fantastic kid.

  9. Rose says:

    What a beautiful child.

    • bamaborn says:

      @Rose…She is a beautiful little girl! Say what you want about Jay-Z and Beyonce, but they appear to be raising a well grounded little girl.

  10. ChillyWilly says:

    No snark from me. That was some good parenting, Jay!

  11. ME says:

    I think he did the right thing. I have always made my niece give her own order when I take her out to eat. This is how they learn. I remember one year for Halloween a dad and his son knocked on the door. The dad held out the bag and said “trick or treat” and told me his kid was shy (the kid hid behind the dad). I thought what he was doing was wrong. You can’t trick or treat for your kids. They need to learn. This kid was probably around 8 years old. I mean there could have been some developmental issues, who knows, but still kids have to learn at some point how to ask for what they want.

    • Mel says:

      My niece once saw a book she liked at an airport shop and I told her that she could have it…if she bought it herself after I gave her the money. She was so shy. She actually used to have an extra half-hour after school a few years ago along with a few other kids from her class who were so shy and soft-spoken as well. The teacher had noticed it and suggested to the parents that they spend that extra time trying to overcome their fear of speaking up. Now she always raises her hand in class to participate and is such a chatterbox in life! It’s important that kids learn to speak up and ask for things themselves. An other important lesson of course is that sometimes the answer will be no. But if you don’t ask, you’ll never know.

  12. Nadeni says:

    She is adorable! And that’s great parenting right there. Mine are 13 & 11 and I make them do the talking and asking as much as possible, ie w/ a salesperson or person in authority and have since they were about her age. Stepping stones to not relying on mom and dad for everything.

  13. Kate says:

    That picture of them smiling at her is so heart melting

  14. liz says:

    Excellent parenting! Teaching your kids to advocate for themselves is so, so important! Absolutely no criticism here.

    And as much as I love seeing fathers & daughters at sporting events, I love seeing mothers and daughters at games even more! We can lead by example and show our daughters that loving sports isn’t just for guys.

  15. Bella Mama says:

    That was actually a perfect parenting move because that’s what you need to do with kids. You need to be there to support and guide them, but ultimately you have to let them, make them, do things for themselves on their own.

    He was right. If they want it bad enough, they need to learn how to ask for it themselves

  16. SheaButterBaby says:

    So sweet 😍

    Also, there’s nothing to criticize here so there probably be won’t be a lot of comments lol

  17. Jensies says:

    I’ve never doubted that B and Jay love their kids and are genuinely warm and present parents. I think he did a great job here, and LeBron was really kind too. She just seems like a really lovely, well-adjusted kid.

    Also, she is looking very much like a Knowles in that first pic.

  18. Pixie says:

    Oh my gosh she is absolutely beautiful!

  19. Sasha says:

    She’s starting to look so much like her mother! What a beauty!

  20. babsjohnson says:

    Aaaaaw ♥️

  21. cherriepie84 says:

    Adorable!

  22. Jessica says:

    Yes to all of this, and I just love that picture of Jay and Blue. Makes my heart melt!

  23. Dee Kay says:

    Wow I am impressed with Jay-Z’s parenting skills here. It’s not just that he told her to voice her request but he set a firm limit, gave her encouragement, made eye contact and used an engaging voice that told her he was co-present with her in the moment (i.e., wasn’t brushing her off because he was too busy to ask LeBron for her). He kept his eyes on her the whole time and wrapped an arm around her to reassure her that he was there, she just had to speak up for herself. Outstanding.

  24. Alyse says:

    Also I feel like her Beyonce is showing more? Like I used to think she was the spitting image of Jay, but she’s looking more and more like her mother too now (which is not at all unusual with kids growing up)