Many parents like to encourage their children to chase their dreams, but billionaire Mark Zuckerberg recently revealed that he didn’t think one of his daughter’s dreams was “available” to her. Like many young girls, his daughter August, 7, is a Swiftie. She hoped that one day she could be a successful pop star like Taylor Swift. Her goal was not an unusual one for her age, but Mark, 40, was quick to shut the idea down. The Meta cofounder explained his reasoning on Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal’s Acquired Podcast.
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His daughter August said she wants to be like Taylor Swift.
It’s not uncommon for kids to dream of being pop stars, and Mark’s daughter seemingly came up with the idea after seeing Taylor perform at an Eras Tour concert. August shared her dream of being like Taylor after the concert, Mark explained on the podcast. “She was like, ‘You know Dad, I kind of want to be like Taylor Swift when I grow up,’” he said.
He shut down the idea.
Mark made his stance clear. He told his daughter that this particular dream was completely unattainable. “I was like, ‘But you can’t. That’s not available to you,’” he said. He didn’t explain why being like Taylor is not “available to” his daughter.
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His daughter seemed to learn something from the exchange.
To some, Mark’s comment might seem pretty discouraging, but his daughter appeared to take something positive away from her dad’s response to her lofty goals. “She thought about it and she’s like, ‘Alright, when I grow up I want people to want to be like August Chan Zuckerberg,’” he explained on the podcast.
The story sparked a debate online.
Although Mark seemed pleased with his daughter’s takeaway, not everyone was impressed by the story. Some found the dad’s comments to his 7-year-old to be too harsh.
“Sure, Taylor Swift is a once in twenty lifetimes musical genius. But one does not simply quash dreams like that,” one person shared on Reddit. “Way to kill a girl’s dream!” another person wrote on the platform.
Others understood the point Mark was trying to make but admitted that his way of going about it seemed a bit questionable or “cold.” “I think he worded it poorly (quite poorly) but his intentions were good, and her response was awesome,” another Redditor wrote.
Regardless of how it was worded, some thought that Mark taught his daughter an important lesson, which she appeared to be receptive to. “It sounds like it was more of a ‘be the best version of yourself, don’t try to be someone else’ conversation” rather than an attempt to crush his daughter’s dreams, one Redditor pointed out.
