Food & Receipts

How to raise all 3 children to become millionaires like Elon Musk’s mother

As a South African woman, Elon Musk's mother is an exceptional mother who has raised successful children. Moreover, at the age of 70, she is still a famous model.

Administrator

30 December, 2023

142

Maye Musk is a Canadian woman with South African roots. At the age of 15, she joined the modeling industry and got married at the age of 22. She then experienced domestic violence and decided to divorce, becoming a single mother to three children. Elon Musk is currently the most famous billionaire, and her other two children are also very successful. Her son Kimbal Musk is the co-founder of The Kitchen Restaurant Group, a non-profit organization called Big Green, and the urban farming company Square Roots. Her youngest daughter Tosca Musk is currently a producer, film director, and television program creator. She says that her approach to raising her children is to encourage them to work hard and pursue their passions. The essential aspects of her parenting can be summarized in the following key points:

Teaching children to work and earn money early

Maye Musk also had to earn money from the age of 8 by helping her father. At the age of 12, she was responsible for the receptionist duties at her father’s clinic. Her father paid her for her work, and she learned the value of hard work, respecting her children as individuals and adults. She taught them about the value of labor. As they grew up, she also taught her three children the same way she was taught. Her children often worked for her, helping her with office tasks. However, Elon Musk and his two siblings were not forced to do this but were enthusiastic about the work.

No homework checking

Instead of closely monitoring her children’s schoolwork, Elon Musk’s mother encouraged them to be independent, kind, honest, caring, and polite. She saw her children as independent individuals and adults, so she did not control or reprimand them. She did not check their homework because it was their responsibility. Her children had to take responsibility for their own future by making decisions on their own. Tosca chose her own high school. All of her children applied to the universities they chose and completed the scholarship and student loan applications on their own. According to Maye Musk, children do not need to be coddled but should take responsibility for themselves.

Letting the children decide what they want

Despite the family’s financial situation, her children lived under quite poor conditions, without beds, only sleeping on mattresses on the floor because they shared a shabby room with six friends. However, they were still okay. According to Maye, children should not be accustomed to extravagance from an early age because they can still survive without it. As a nutrition expert, she has been in contact with many parents and noticed that many are overly stressed about their children, filling out university applications for them, worrying about many things. In contrast, she believes that children should be prepared to take responsibility for their own future. When a child has a good idea, it should be supported.

Always supporting the children

As we can see, from childhood to adulthood, Maye Musk did not interfere in her children’s lives but let them take responsibility. However, she always supported her children. She is undoubtedly Elon Musk’s biggest supporter on social media and has even argued with President Biden’s administration about underestimating Tesla’s role in leading the electric vehicle industry.

As a mother, Maye Musk has shown us that raising children is not easy. How we care for them may seem like love, but it can also diminish their ability to protect themselves. Maye’s approach is to walk alongside and guide her children but let them take responsibility, not spoiling them or deeply interfering in their direction. She loves her children but does not use love as a way to control them according to her own will.