It’s an age-old question for parents: Should you push your children to participate in specific activities and educational pursuits, or entirely let them follow their passions?
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, 73, says his parents took the latter approach and he is happier and more successful as a result. He added that he adopted the same strategy when raising his own children.
“My parents told me to follow my heart,” he Tell that to University of Colorado Boulder graduates last week. “When you really want something and love something and it’s your passion, you should have your parents support you in that direction. Instead of telling you, ‘No. You should learn this. You should learn this. Should go to this school.
The Californian attended the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1968, majoring in computer science. He said his parents only had one year of out-of-state tuition saved, but they still encouraged him to go to the school of his choice and pursue his love of technology, a field they didn’t expect would become so important.
Wozniak was expelled in 1969 for hacking into the university’s computer system and sending prank messages. He re-entered college—first De Anza College, then the University of California, Berkeley—and was introduced to Steve Jobs by a mutual friend before dropping out of Berkeley in 1971.
Five years later, Jobs and Wozniak co-founded Apple. When the company went public in 1980, both men became millionaires.
Now, he said, Wozniak provides his children with the same support his parents gave him.
“I treat my own children the same way,” he said. “My parents didn’t impose their values on me… They let me make my own choices, so I was very careful with my children.”
Parenting expert Margot Machol Bisnow says this strategy works. Parents of successful adults.
Bisnow told CNBC Make It last year that when you don’t encourage your children’s passions, especially when you worry that they won’t make enough money as adults, you show that you don’t trust them. She adds that a high level of trust and support builds confidence in children so they can ultimately excel in anything they do.
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