Being a parent is not an easy job. We often wonder if our kids are making the right decisions. More than that, we wonder if we are giving them the right advice and showing the right path to help them shape their future. Like us, Bill Gates’ parents would have had the same confusions too. Yet, they took some bold parenting decisions that are reflected by their son’s success today.
Giving him independence
According to Wisuru, Bill Gates was a disruptive child. He would often question his parents’ decisions and refuse to follow them. So, they took him to a psychologist. The psychologist advised Bill Gates to stop questioning his parents’ decisions as it would prove nothing. At the same time, he also advised his parents to give him more freedom.
Heeding his advice, Bill Gates’ parents gave him more freedom. They let him pursue his interest in computers. They even allowed him to spend nights off from home to use the technology at the University of Washington.
Teaching him to accept failure
Bill Gates was a computer geek. But that’s not the only thing he was good at. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT, which puts his IQ at around 151.45. Thus, he was a genius who was multi-skilled. But his parents did not want him to be in his comfort zone by doing only the things he was good at. They wanted him also to taste failure too. So, they sent him to swim and play sports like football, which he wasn’t good at. Even though it might sound counterintuitive, it helped him develop a growth mindset, which came in handy when he became an entrepreneur.
Trusting him and supporting him
Bill Gates was a true genius. When he was in high school, he and his friend wrote a computer program called Traf-O-Data. This program measured the traffic flow in Seattle and was highly in demand. So, they sold it and made $20,000. Inspired by its success, Bill Gates wanted to quit school. But his parents didn’t think computer programming had a future. They wanted him to become a lawyer like his father, which was a better job back then. So, despite his love for computers, they forced him to join Harvard instead as a pre-law major. However, after joining college, Bill Gates wasted his time playing video games and poker. Two years later, he and his friend wrote another software program that was in high demand. So, this time, Bill Gates decided to quit college for good and become a computer programmer. But this time, his parents did not oppose him profoundly. On the contrary, despite their fears of their son spoiling his future, they supported his decision. As history would later show, it turned out to be one of the best decisions that Bill Gates ever made. It enabled him to establish Microsoft and prove himself to be one of the biggest geniuses of the twentieth century.
Teaching the importance of giving
Bill Gates is not just one of the biggest geniuses of the twentieth century, but also one of the biggest philanthropists of the twenty-first century. In 2000, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates founded a charity called the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since its establishment, the charity’s net worth has grown tremendously. Today, it is the richest non-profit organization in the world, with assets worth $50.7 billion. The charity gives away $1 billion every year to charitable causes. It has contributed to reducing global poverty, aiding global improvement, improving global health, and helping students study. But besides founding the charity, Bill Gates has also successfully convinced other billionaires to give away their wealth to charity. As a result, in 2006, billionaire Warren Buffet pledged his company’s stock worth $3 billion to the foundation. Bill Gates himself announced that he and his wife would give away 99.96% of their wealth to charity eventually. But all his magnanimous charitable efforts might have been the result of his upbringing. As a kid, Bill Gates grew up looking at his parents helping others.
Gates’ parents believed in serving the community. Bill Gates’ mother was a firm believer of the saying, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” Therefore, she and her husband involved themselves in community service and philanthropy. Moreover, they made sure that their children participated too. These values imparted to him by his parents early in his life have made him one of the biggest philanthropists of the twenty-first century.
Teaching the importance of people
There is a new Netflix series called ‘Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates.‘ In this series, an interviewer asks different types of questions to Bill Gates, hoping to peer into his mind and find out what made Bill Gates the man he is today. But Bill Gates is a calm, reserved, and composed man who rarely shows any emotions while answering these questions. So, regardless of the question, the interviewer asks him, Bill Gates rarely shows any emotions. But when the interviewer asks Bill Gates what his worst day was, Bill Gates suddenly becomes emotional.
Bill Gates is a man who had been the richest man in the world for 19 years between 1995 and 2017. But during his rise to the richness and even afterward, he has faced many problems. From being accused by Steve Jobs of stealing his ideas to risking his company being split up, these problems were numerous. Yet, the worst day in his life was not when he was humiliated in front of people. It was not even the day when he felt that his entire life’s hard work might disappear into thin air. According to him, it was the day when his mother died. Gates’ parents taught him to respect people. Even though they encouraged him to succeed in life, they also taught him to accept failure. They taught him to respect and value people more than money. Thanks to his upbringing, the once richest man in the world is human, after all. He values people more than money. And he has always been like that.
Thus, we can all learn something from Bill Gates’ parents. It is important to help your children succeed. But at the same time, it is important to teach them to taste failure and also the importance of people. After all, this world needs more kind-hearted humans than it needs money.
