Elon Musk’s mother reveals secrets to raising successful children
June 11, 2024
By Expat Media
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Elon Musk’s mother reveals secrets to raising successful children
Elon Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, has revealed how she raised three successful children. Her secret? “Teaching them about hard work,” Musk said in her book, A Woman Makes a Plan.
Her oldest child, Elon, is the billionaire CEO and co-founder of electric car maker Tesla; her middle child, Kimbal, is a restaurant owner; and her youngest, Tosca, is a film producer and director.
“People often ask me how I raised such successful kids. I tell them I did it by teaching them about hard work and letting them follow their interests,” she said.
Musk became a single mother of three when she was 31, working full-time “because I didn’t have a choice”.
“I worked hard to keep a roof over our heads, food in our stomach, and basic clothes on our back,” she said. She even settled for second-hand clothes, she said.
She believes in putting kids to work at an early age, saying she was eight years old when she and her sister started helping their father create monthly bulletins for his chiropractic clinic.
“My parents treated us like adults who could be trusted, and their influence is evident in how I raised my children,” she said.
When she became a parent, Musk said she let her children help her with her nutrition business.
“Tosca would go into my office and type up letters to doctors on a word processor. Elon was very good at helping to explain the word processor functions to me. Kimbal was always helpful, too,” she said.
She brought up her children like her parents brought her up: “to be independent, kind, honest, considerate and polite”.
She never told them what to study, or check their homework. “I didn’t treat them like babies or scold them,” she said.
Elon and his siblings applied to their universities of choice and completed their scholarship and student loan applications on their own. “They should be responsible for their future,” she said.
“When they went to college, they lived in quite poor conditions: mattress on the floor, six roommates or a dilapidated house. But they were fine with it. If your children aren’t used to luxuries, they survive well. You don’t need to spoil them,” she said.
Her advice to parents?
“Let your kids handle their own documents to get themselves into universities or jobs. They should be responsible for their future. Or if they prefer to start a business and you think it’s a good idea, support them. Teach your children good manners. But let them decide what they want,” she said. ICA/Expat Media
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