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Jeff Bezos has a lot of life advice for his kids.
By Sanika Nalgirkar — Written on May 07, 2022
Jeff Bezos is easily one of the wealthiest people in the world. Being that rich definitely garners a lot of attention from people everywhere.
People are always curious to find out about the Amazon founder’s family and how he lives his day-to-day life.
Bezos and his ex-wife, Mackenzie Scott, share four children, three sons and one daughter. Even though the couple has split, they don't let it come between parenting their children.
Bezos has often talked about the advice he gives to his kids or the certain rules he follows with them.
Here are 7 parenting rules Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott follow.
1. No bad-mouthing each other to the kids.
When Bezos and Scott got divorced in 2020, the billionaire had a stern rule regarding their kids. He requested that the former couple don’t talk about their problems in front of their kids.
Bezos wanted their custody plan to have an order that said, “a provision that neither party will discuss parental conflict with the children.”
He wanted to keep their conflict private and not include the kids in this matter.
2. Education is important to Jeff Bezos and Mackenzie Scott.
It is no surprise that Bezos values education and hard work after the multi-billion dollar empire he has created.
Bezos, himself graduated from Princeton University in 1986 and he passes on the same values to his children. His oldest son, Preston, who would now be 22-years-old, also attends Princeton.
3. Jeff Bezos tells his kids working hard is more important than having talents.
It seems Bezos believes more in working hard when it comes to fulfilling one’s goals. When it comes to working hard versus having talents, Bezos encourages his kids to work hard.
He said, “It's really easy for a talented young person to take pride in their gifts: 'I'm really athletic,' or 'I'm really smart,' or 'I'm really good at math.' That's fine. You should celebrate your gifts. You should be happy.”
However, using those gifts in the right way and working on them is what he teaches his kids and encourages others to do the same.
“How did you decide to use your gifts? Did you study hard? Did you work hard? Did you practice? The people who excel combine gifts and hard work, and the hard work part is a choice. You get to decide that, “ he said.
4. Jeff Bezos encourages his kids to follow their passions- even if they change their minds.
Here’s another piece of advice Bezos gives to his kids- to follow your passion. Bezos spoke at a New York Gala where he talked a bit about his passions and the advice he has for his kids.
He mentioned that creating a successful career is only possible if you follow your passions and encourages his kids to do the same. He said, “If you’re doing something you love, the day is going to be so fun.”
He further stated that it’s alright to change your passions along the way and decide to do something else. He also shared his experiences about his career.
He said, “I thought I wanted to be a scientist when I went to Princeton. I thought I wanted to be a physicist and halfway through, I figured out I wasn’t smart enough to be a physicist.”
5. The Bezos kids played with knives and power tools at a young age for a very important reason.
Bezos allowed his kids to play with knives since they were four and power tools since they were seven.
He wanted to teach them to be resourceful. He believes that allowing them such tools at a young age teaches them to be self-reliant and lets them take risks.
He mentioned in a Summit panel that even he learned to be resourceful at a young age.
He would often help his grandfather on major projects such as fixing heavy machinery or building a house when he was 17-years-old.
“He [his grandfather] would take on major projects that he didn’t know how to do and then figure out how to do them,” he said.
“As a kid, I got to see him solve all these problems and be a real problem-solver.”
He also mentioned that Scott agrees with him when it comes to this rule. He said, "[she] would much rather have a kid with nine fingers than a resourceless kid.”
6. Jeff Bezos and Mackenzie Scott keep their kids out of the spotlight.
Other than Preston, Bezos and Scott have two sons and one daughter who was adopted from China.
However, that’s all the information on their kids as the parents work hard to keep them out of the spotlight.
There is also not much information about any of the kids on the internet. One person even tweeted how it is so hard to find out the names of the kids.
Megan Greenwell, a former Editor for Deadspin also tweeted that someone she knows lived in the same dorm as the kids. When Greenwell tried to search the kids' names on the internet, she couldn’t find anything.
As there is limited information about the kids, people are curious to find out about them. In one instance, Bezos posted a bunch of pictures on social media where he tagged two boys who had the same last name as him.
Many people thought that they might be Bezos' sons, however, after much digging, it seems unlikely that the two are his kids.
7. Family time is important in the Bezos household.
Being the CEO of Amazon is no easy job which also means Bezos is busy quite often. However, he values his family and makes sure to spend time with them every day.
He spends his mornings with his kids before they leave for school and doesn’t schedule his first meeting until 10 am.
“I like to read the newspaper, I like to have coffee, I like to have breakfast with my kids before they go to school,” Bezos said.
“My puttering time is very important to me.”
Sanika Nalgirkar is a writer who covers entertainment & news, lifestyle, and pop culture topics.