Model and nutritionist Maye Musk is the most admired parent in America. Her eldest son is the world’s richest billionaire – Elon Musk – who has a fortune of 245 billion USD.

Maye’s second son – Kimbal Musk – owns a chain of farms and restaurants with a fortune of 700 million USD. Maye’s youngest daughter – Tosca Musk – is a filmmaker with her own famous company.

Maye Musk (76 years old) is often invited to share her skills in raising successful children. Maye said that all her secrets lie in teaching her children to love work and know what they are interested in.

Teaching children to work and treating them like adults
Maye divorced and became a single mother at the age of 31. She had to work hard, taking on many jobs at the same time, to have enough money to raise her children. Maye raised all three children herself and did not receive much support from her ex-husband.

Having to spend most of her time working to earn money to raise her children did not make her feel guilty towards her children. She knew that if she was lazy, she would not have money to rent a house and provide for her three children.

For Maye, the most important experience in her life was working part-time at her father’s private clinic since she was 8 years old. She and her sisters were assigned tasks appropriate to their age, working hours and the salary agreed upon with their parents.

Maye spent years working hard at her father’s clinic after school, taking on many tasks, and receiving a salary, which was her monthly allowance.

Since childhood, Maye was treated as an adult by her parents and trusted by them. Her parents’ way of raising their children greatly influenced the way she raised her children later on. When her children were young, she always assigned them appropriate tasks whenever she opened a modeling class or a nutrition class.

She taught her children the importance of hard work. She treated them like adults, did not yell at them, did not check their homework, did not urge them to study. They had to take responsibility for their own learning results and their own educational path.

Mrs. Maye always avoided two extremes in raising children: either being too indulgent or too strict. She did not force her children to absolutely obey her, but she required them to take responsibility for themselves, to be responsible for their own work.

When the children grew up, they had to take responsibility for their own future, for every decision they made. She let them choose their own school, their own major, starting from high school. They determined their own direction to study hard.

According to Ms. Maye, parents should not overprotect their children, but instead, parents need to help their children understand the realities of life and live responsibly from a young age.

Ms. Maye’s children have seen how hard their mother worked to provide for the family. Before they could earn their own income, Ms. Maye’s children had to wear clothes that were old for many years. When the children went to college, her family was still very poor, so they had to save on all expenses to have enough money to pay for tuition.

According to Ms. Maye, because her children had never known wealth, the difficult experiences of their childhood did not become a big problem, all three of her children overcame it easily. Ms. Maye advises parents not to “spoil” their children by pampering them too much in terms of comfort and material things.

As long as parents ensure that their children study and live in a safe environment, that is enough. No matter what age, children need to learn to take care of themselves.

Many parents often worry about their children, from diet, school selection, to future orientation.

According to Ms. Maye, when children are adults, parents only need to be there to encourage and support them as much as they can.

For her, the most important task of parents is to help their children form a good lifestyle, after which, they will have to walk their own path.

The values ​​that Ms. Maye emphasizes in the process of raising children are independence, kindness, honesty, prudence, and politeness.

Secretly happy because the child likes to… “reason”
Ms. Maye realized that her eldest son Elon Musk was a prodigy when he was only 3 years old. She remembers that when she registered her son for kindergarten, when she shared with the teacher that her son was a prodigy, the teacher was “wide-eyed” in surprise.

“I knew my son was special. When Elon was 3 years old, I sent him to kindergarten and told the teachers at school that my son was a prodigy, everyone was shocked. Elon was quite shy so people didn’t see the genius side of him back then.

I was the only person Elon talked to comfortably, so I knew that clearly. Since he was a child, Elon liked to use logic to talk to me and remember everything that happened around him,” Maye recalled.

However, Maye herself never thought that her son could reach the level of success he has today: becoming the richest billionaire in the world and successful in many fields.