Kaavia James Union Wade is the no-nonsense kid of a no-nonsense dad, aka Dwyane Wade. So it’s only natural that she holds her mom to a very high standard. Her legendary side-eye even inspired her parents’ brand, Shady Baby. The 6-year-old’s sass has put Gabrielle Union in a tight spot more than once. Sometimes it’s caught live on her parents’ social media. But it happens more often than you think. Gabrielle, in fact, got into trouble with their youngest very recently.

Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade arrived on the IMO Podcast to talk hoops, acting, and family with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. They helped out a listener or two along the way. One listener sought advice on navigating the different personalities of the kids in their family. Wade and Union are intimately familiar with that. The NBA player was a dad of two and raising his nephew when he met Union in 2007. He had another son from another relationship, and then Kaavia with Union. For Gab, it was a fine balance between being a confidant to her stepkids and parenting precocious Kaav. Before Kaavia was born (and Zaya came out as trans), Wade was a boy dad. So the Riff Raff star tried to make him adjust, and the universe ‘rewarded’ her.

“Kaav, like, you know, I came into the rescue and wrong answer, wrong answer. And it came back to bite me very fast. Karma came so fast,” Union claimed about correcting her husband on how he handles their youngest. The ‘Karma’ came as recently as the Sunday before they recorded the podcast. “I don’t even remember what I said to her that caused her to be staring me down all day Sunday,” she told Obama.

“I told her to, I don’t know, share, stop doing something. We had a little playdate or whatever. And she was like…” Union demonstrated the (hopefully trademarked) Shady Baby side-eye she got for correcting Kaavia in front of her friends. D-Wade was laughing, possibly vindicated over this episode. The former First Lady and mom of two seemingly got it. “She gave you the look,” Obama said, like she’s been on the receiving end of Malia and Sasha’s ‘looks’ too.

The way Union describes it, “All hours, hours. She’s on the trampoline across the yard…” and imitates a strong gaze that looks like Flash at tip-off, you’d wonder who’s the mom between them. It’s not even the first time she’s dealt with it.

Kaavia is different with dad, Dwyane Wade

The trampoline at the heart of this incident got Union into trouble the first time as well. It was Kaavia’s Christmas present from her parents in 2023, and right away, she set the tone for it. Unlike Bring It On, Gabrielle Union’s high-flying moves on the trampoline were not well-received, and Kaavia had to discipline her mom.

This is the very Shady Baby that inspired Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union to turn it into a brand. While ‘Proudly’ is a hair and skincare line for children of color like Kaav, Shady Baby is a children’s book collection with a merch and lifestyle brand.

D-Wade is rarely the target of Kaavia’s stare. This past weekend, Wade and Union shared a photodump of Kaavia’s playdate at the beach. That included hanging out with friends, a piggyback ride with her dad, cartwheeling, and jumping on the trampoline. One single moment in this post went viral – when Kaavia said something to her dad that had him end the video with an ‘abort gesture.

Union gave the backstory in a later video, and it’s so fitting for this dad and daughter duo. “Kaav thought she was ready to compete in the peach-eating contest, but on 2nd thought…” D-Wade saved his daughter’s rep by ‘aborting’ the competition.

We know what you’re thinking. The Dwyane Wade’s daughter quitting in the face of competition? Well, they pick their battles. As he told Michelle Obama, “She respect the way that I communicate, but she don’t like it.” So D-Wade isn’t going to be on the receiving end of that glare. “She comes, we hug, we don’t miss a beat, she’s not staring me down, we on the couch. So it’s a different dynamic that we have, not saying her mom needs to have that dynamic, it’s just… this is just this is how this is gonna go. I’m coach.”

Gabrielle Union isn’t adopting Wade’s coaching style of parenting any time soon. She loves the ‘side-eye’ of her Shady Baby.