蓋茨談爲父之道 稱子女13歲纔有手機大綱

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has opened up about being a parent, stating that 13 is an appropriate age for a child's first cell phone.

The 57-year-old, father-of-three revealed on the Today show that his children Jennifer and Rory were not allowed phones until their thirteenth birthday and his youngest daughter Phoebe is still waiting for one.

'We’ve chosen in our family that it’s 13 where you get a phone,' the self-made billionaire explained.

He said as a result his brood often return home from school complaining: 'All the other kids have it. I’m the only one without it, it’s so embarrassing.'

Asked if he keeps passwords to his son and daughters' email and Facebook accounts, Mr Gates said that he doesn’t for Jennifer, 16, who he describes as 'independent'.

He admitted that monitoring online activity is 'a very tricky issue for parents now.'

Despite their vast wealth Mr and Mrs Gates, who live in Lake Medina, just outside Seattle, Washington, have said they want to give their children as normal an upbringing as possible.

It was previously reported that their youngsters have to complete household chores and are given a modest amount of pocket money.

And in 2010 Mr Gates said that he intends to give most of his $61billion fortune away rather than hand it down. 'That wouldn’t be good either for my kids or society,' he said.

Also during the Today interview with host Matt Lauer, Mr Gates, who stepped down from Microsoft in 2008 to concentrate on philanthropy, said that helping others gives him same buzz as creating software.

'What you really feel is what you’ve achieved. If a piece of software gets out there and lots of people love it - it lets them get their work done in better ways - that’s exciting,' he explained.

Mr Gates was previously the richest man in the world, but he got shifted down a spot in 2010 after he decided to give away $28billion to good causes.微軟公司創始人比爾•蓋茨近日坦露了他的爲父之道，他認爲13歲是孩子擁有第一部手機的合適年齡。

作爲三個孩子的父親，今年57歲的比爾•蓋茨在《今日秀》節目上透露，他的長女珍妮弗和長子羅裏直到他們13歲生日那天才獲准擁有自己的第一部手機，而他最小的女兒菲比仍在等待中。

這個白手起家的億萬富翁解釋道：“我們家的規定是直到13歲你才能擁有手機。”

蓋茨說，由於這項規定，孩子們從學校回家後常抱怨說：“其他孩子都有手機，我是唯一一個沒有手機的人，這很令人尷尬。”

當被問及是否保存兒女郵箱和臉譜網帳號的密碼時，蓋茨說他並沒有保存16歲長女珍妮弗帳號的密碼，因爲他覺得她已經“獨立”了。

蓋茨承認監督子女的線上活動“對於現在的父母是一件非常棘手的事”。

蓋茨一家住在華盛頓州西雅圖市外的麥地那湖附近，儘管蓋茨夫婦擁有鉅額財產，但他們表示想盡量讓自己的孩子像普通人一樣成長。

先前有報道說，蓋茨的三個小孩子在家中要做家務，零花錢也不多。

2010年蓋茨曾提到他打算把他610億美元財產中的大部分捐贈出去而不是留給自己的孩子。蓋茨說，留遺產“既不利於孩子，也不利於社會”。

蓋茨於2008年從微軟公司辭職並專注於慈善事業。在《今日秀》的訪談中，他還告訴主持人馬特•勞厄爾說，幫助他人和創造軟件一樣讓他活力十足。

蓋茨解釋道：“你內心的真實感受就是你的成就。如果一款新開發出來的軟件受到許多人的喜愛，還能讓他們更好地完成工作——將是一件令人興奮的事。”

比爾•蓋茨曾經是全世界最富有的人，不過在他決定把280億美元的資產捐贈給慈善事業後，他便失去了首富寶座，在全球富豪榜上排行第二。