How Mark Zuckerberg and His Wife Raise Their Kids
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan have two daughters. They aim to raise them to be "grounded" rather than being handed everything.
May 13 2022, Published 10:54 a.m. ET
Most are familiar with the story of Mark Zuckerberg and how he founded Facebook, now known as Meta. The college dropout who became a billionaire has faced plenty of criticism from the public, given the global influence of his company. However, he’s also a family man. Here’s what we know about Mark Zuckerberg’s kids.
Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, met during their college days at Harvard, pre-dropout and pre-Facebook. The couple, now in their late thirties, have a net worth in the billions. Parenting two young children while having access to such wealth may be a challenge.
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan have two daughters
Zuckerberg and Chan are due to celebrate their ten-year anniversary on May 19, 2022. Their first child, Maxima, was born in 2015, and their second child, August, came along in 2017.
Zuckerberg and Chan's two daughters.
Recently, Zuckerberg spoke about his bedtime routine with the girls, during which they’ll discuss key questions such as their health, the people they love, and what they did to help others that day.
Zuckerberg tries not to spoil his children
In a 2019 interview with Gayle King of CBS This Morning, Zuckerberg explained his parenting philosophy, which includes not giving his kids everything they might want. When King asked how the pair raises children who are “grounded” when they can “really give them anything,” Zuckerberg said, “We don’t give them everything.”
A photo Priscilla Chan posted of her oldest daughter Maxima in 2021, calling her "my fearless five year old."
Both Zuckerberg and Chan stated that their daughters are given chores and responsibilities at home. Chan added that both of them take the children to work with them to observe how they work and contribute there.
Zuckerberg and Chan founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative when they first became parents
In 2015, the couple founded their organization, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). Chan has said that CZI and her oldest daughter, Max, share a birthday. She and Zuckerberg were working on a letter explaining their mission to improve the world while she was in labor, and it was posted to Facebook the same day Maxima was born.
The CZI mission is “to build a more inclusive, just and healthy future for everyone.” It focuses on several core areas: science, education, community, and justice and opportunity. The CZI website says it integrates technology with philanthropy.
Some initiatives the CZI has invested in are related to climate change, science education, inclusivity, diversity, and rare disease research.
Zuckerberg is aware of screen time for his daughters
In a different 2019 interview, Zuckerberg stated, “I don't generally want my kids to be sitting in front of a TV or a computer for a long period of time.” However, he was optimistic about the benefits of his children using Facebook Portal, the company’s video chatting product, in order to communicate visually and verbally with relatives far away.
Keeping in touch with grandparents and aunts who live across the country was important to Zuckerberg, and he explained that this type of screen time can be truly beneficial. However, he contrasted that with passive screen time and indicated that wouldn’t have the same benefits without human interaction.