Elon Musk’s Mom Says She Made Him & His Siblings Follow 6 Strict Rules Growing Up
Frederic Legrand - COMEO | ShutterstockElon Musk is the richest person on the planet, recently becoming the world's first trillionaire. His name may be one of the most recognizable in the world, but many people don't know that he also has two successful siblings. His brother Kimbal is a fellow tech entrepreneur and restauranter, while his sister Tosca is a filmmaker.
People obviously want to know how so many members of one family could become so successful. Maye Musk, their mother and the woman behind it all, shared how she raised her children to be self-sufficient and persistent. Making her children hard workers was always her goal, and it seems like she certainly succeeded in a way that went above and beyond what she could have dreamed.
Elon Musk's mom said she made him and his siblings follow these 6 strict rules growing up:
1. Start working at a young age
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Maye told CNBC that she became a single mother at 31 years old and had to work hard to take care of her three children, which she encouraged them to do as well. She and her sister grew up contributing in small, age-appropriate ways to their dad's chiropractic business, and her kids did the same at her nutrition business.
“Tosca would go into my office and type up letters to doctors on a word processor,” she recalled. “Elon was very good at helping to explain the word processor functions to me. Kimbal was always helpful, too.”
All of the technology we live with that makes life easier can make it feel like children shouldn't have to lift a finger, but this means they're missing out on a valuable opportunity to become more resilient. This will serve them well later in life, as it did for Kimbal and Elon when they had their first taste of entrepreneurship by selling homemade chocolate at a markup when they were just kids.
2. Learn how to act like an adult
Maye learned this important lesson from her parents and passed it on to her own children. “My parents treated us like adults who could be trusted, and their influence is evident in how I raised my children,” she explained.
Maye never hid how hard she had to work to provide for her kids, and she never tried to keep them from being exposed to the struggles of adult life. They learned early that you have to work hard to make it in the world, which made them more mature than their peers.
“My kids benefited because they saw me work hard just to put a roof over our heads, put food in our stomachs, and purchase secondhand clothes,” she said. Teaching kids about responsibility in this way and making them more aware of the world around them is something you can never start too young.
3. Take charge of your education
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Elon, Tosca, and Kimbal made their own decisions about their education. Maye never told them what they should study, or even what they should read, letting them figure it out on their own instead.
“I never told them what to study,” she said. “I didn’t check their homework; that was their responsibility.”
This environment continued as they grew older and reached more serious educational decisions. "Tosca chose her own high school," she stated. "They all applied to their universities of choice and completed their scholarship and student loan applications."
Giving kids this kind of freedom makes them more responsible and prepares them to face the future with confidence, which Maye understood well.
4. No luxuries allowed
Maye was the kind of parent who didn't believe in spoiling her kids. Raising three kids on her own was obviously difficult, but she never wanted to give her kids any sort of advantages, even if she had the power to do so.
“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,” she recounted.
She hoped that a life without luxury would help her children learn to take care of themselves. “If your children aren’t used to luxuries, they survive well,” she continued. “You don’t need to spoil them. Once you’re sure your kids are in safe situations, let them look after themselves.”
A more permissive parenting style can lead to children becoming rebellious and egotistical, and Maye never wanted that for her kids. She made them earn the good things they got in life.
5. Nurture creativity and curiosity
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Maye has talked about how curious Elon was in particular, always walking around with his head in a book or daydreaming about what he would do next. She can see how nurturing this creative side of him has led him to success in his business ventures.
In a conversation with Mindvalley, she said, “He was always curious. And then after his PayPal sold, he said, ‘Should I do space rockets? Or should I do solar panels? Or should I do electric cars?’ And I said, ‘You just do one thing.'" He didn't stick to that advice, though.
Her children never shied away from failure and always looked to the future whenever things went wrong, seeing it as an opportunity to grow and improve. She continued, “In the beginning, when [Elon’s] rockets were exploding, I would just curl up and want to cry in a corner whereas Elon would come out and say, ‘Now we find out what went wrong and we will do the next one right!’”
Kids who aren't curious about the world around them and all the things they can learn aren't going to learn as much because they simply won't care as much. The Musk kids learned that acquiring knowledge can be even more fun than possessing it, which helped them in the future.
6. Be in control of your own future
Just like Maye put the ultimate responsibility for educational decisions on her kids' shoulders, she wanted them to take ownership of their lives as well. Because she built the life that she has on her own, she believed her children should be able to do the same thing for themselves.
“So many parents get easily stressed about their kids. I saw it often in my nutrition practice,” she said. “My advice? Let your kids handle their own documents to get themselves into universities or jobs. They should be responsible for their future.”
Pushing kids to be responsible is the best way to make them more independent. Maye was always supportive of her children, but she never fought their battles for them. The lessons she instilled in them are what allowed them to become so successful.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and relationships.
