Just let kids live: Maye Musk preaches anti-tiger mom gospel to HK

Maye Musk didn’t raise a billionaire by demanding perfect report cards. 

“I demand no As from children-no rules,” the mother of Elon Musk told a packed Prudential forum in Hong Kong, trading laughs and sharp lines with Angel Ng Yin-yee, Prudential’s Greater China regional chief executive, in a discussion on tiger parenting, succession planning and staying ahead of AI.

“You can do whatever you want,” Musk said. “Be alive. Explore the world... Just let children do what they want.”

The serious takeaway: Ng said parents should not only pass on their wealth, but also survival skills, teaching their children how to be agile, resilient and curious.

The event drew hundreds of attendees who came expecting a parenting talk yet got something closer to a masterclass in resilience, humor and succession planning. Maye Musk, 76, model, dietitian and mother of Elon, Kimbal and Tosca Musk, wasted little time dismantling the traditional tiger-mom playbook.

She said she never demanded straight As or imposed rigid rules on her children. Her goal, she explained, was not to produce polished trophies but to raise human beings who were alive, curious and free to explore. She herself wanted to be humorous, not only beautiful, she said, adding that she wanted her children to have the same freedom.

To illustrate her point, she described the morning after Elon had worked on one of his rocket projects. He studied a rocket overnight, and the next morning he just wanted scrambled eggs, which drew laughter from the crowd. The anecdote captured her philosophy: parents should not confuse achievement with identity, even world-changing children need grounding.

Ng said the “Tiger Mom” discussion sharpened when she contrasted the prescriptive Asian tiger mom with the more flexible foreign mother.

However, Ng, who was raised in Hong Kong, recalled how her parents were liberal, allowing her to explore the world and do whatever she wanted. 

The talk took a turn when the subject shifted to succession planning. Ng said passing on wealth alone is not enough; families must pass on values and skills — especially survival skills. “Be agile, resilient, look beyond wealth,” she said, adding that Prudential can help families with financial planning.

On staying ahead of AI, Ng urged the audience to stay curious, adding an example of how she taught her 90-year-old mother to use an iPhone and order an Uber. She encouraged parents and leaders alike to brush up on problem-solving skills, because the right answer today may not be the right answer tomorrow.

As for leadership, Musk’s message was equally direct: “Be kind and thoughtful and do the right thing.”

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓