For some children, a bookstore is just another place in a shopping mall. For the world’s richest person Elon Musk, it was where his mother knew she would find him. Maye Musk has recalled that when her children were young, Elon would sometimes disappear while they were at a mall. She did not have to search for long. Her first stop was always the nearest bookstore, where she would find him sitting on the floor, completely absorbed in a book.Maye recently recalled the memory after retweeting a post on X. “True. When I would take my kids to a shopping mall and Elon disappeared, I just needed to find the nearest bookstore. He would be sitting on the floor reading,” she wrote.
28 Jul 2026 | 16:22
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Elon Musk replied to her post with a simple, “True.” It is a small childhood memory, but it says something interesting about the way children develop their relationship with books. For Elon, reading was not something he did because an adult had asked him to. It was something he actively sought out.
“He read through the night”
Elon in his younger days. (Right)
Maye has spoken about her son’s reading habit before. In an old interview with the BBC, she recalled that Elon was a teenager who did not have many friends and spent much of his time reading. “As a teenager, Elon didn’t have many friends, but, um, he read all the time, through the night,” she said. She particularly remembered his interest in science fiction. “He read a lot of science fiction. He would read through the night until he saw me getting up, and then he would go to sleep,” Maye recalled.His reading habit even created a practical parenting problem. Because Elon would stay awake reading until morning, getting him ready for school was not easy. “I couldn’t get him up in the morning,” she said. “And then, of course, I had to dress him while he was half asleep and get him to school.”
The parenting lesson is not simply ‘make your child read’
It is tempting to look at Musk’s childhood and conclude that parents should encourage children to read more. But the more useful lesson may be different. Maye’s story suggests that interest matters more than instruction.Elon was not reading because reading had been turned into another childhood task. He was reading because he wanted to know what was inside the book. He was curious enough to continue even when nobody was watching.Parents need to understand that distinction. A child who is forced to read for 20 minutes every evening may finish the assigned pages but still think of books as homework. Another child who is allowed to choose a fantasy novel, comic book, cricket biography, mythology book or science-fiction story may slowly discover reading as something enjoyable.
Let children find their ‘bookstore floor’
Elon and his mother Maye.
Parents often worry when children spend too much time on screens or do not seem interested in books. The answer is not always to impose longer reading sessions. Instead, create more opportunities for children to stumble upon something that genuinely interests them.Take them to a library or bookstore and let them browse. Do not immediately tell them which books are “good for them”. If a child spends 20 minutes looking at a book about dinosaurs, space, football, animals or machines, that curiosity is worth encouraging.The bigger goal is to help children discover what makes them want to turn the next page.
Curiosity needs some freedom
There is also a broader parenting lesson in Maye’s recollection. Children do not always show curiosity in the neat ways adults expect. Sometimes it means asking endless questions. Sometimes it means taking apart a toy. Sometimes it means spending an unusual amount of time reading about one subject.Parents can be tempted to interrupt these interests because they do not appear immediately useful. But when a child becomes deeply absorbed in something, it can be worth asking: What is this interest telling me about my child?The child who spends hours reading about planets may be showing a fascination with science. The one who constantly reads stories may be developing an interest in characters and language. The child who reads about how machines work may simply enjoy understanding systems.Instead of asking only, “Is this book useful?”, parents can also ask, “What is my child curious about?”
A simple way to build a reading habit at home
Parents do not need to create a complicated reading program. A few small changes can make books a natural part of everyday life:Keep books visible: A small shelf within a child’s reach can work better than keeping books locked away or placed too high.Let children choose: Give them some control over what they read, even if the choice is not what you would have picked.Read without testing: Not every reading session needs questions about the plot, vocabulary or moral of the story.Read around them: Children notice what adults do. Seeing parents read for pleasure makes books look like something people choose to do, not just something children are told to do.Allow re-reading: If a child wants to read the same book repeatedly, let them. Familiar stories can build confidence and help children notice details they missed earlier.Protect some quiet time: A child cannot easily become absorbed in a book when every spare minute is filled with notifications, videos and activities.Elon Musk’s childhood reading habit does not offer a formula for producing a successful adult. Children who read extensively can grow up in countless different directions, and reading alone does not determine what they become. What Maye’s recollection does offer is a useful picture of a child following his curiosity.For today’s parents, perhaps the lesson is not to make children read like Elon Musk. It is to give them enough access, freedom and time to discover the thing that makes them forget to look at the clock. Sometimes, that thing may be a book.
