Michael Jackson could have bought his children just about anything on earth. He had the money to fill a warehouse with toys and never think twice about it. So the rule he actually set in his own house might catch you off guard.
According to his daughter Paris, if she and her brothers wanted toys, they had to read for them. Five toys from the store meant five books read first. In her own words, if we wanted five toys from FAO Schwarz or Toys R Us, we had to read five books.
Paris on the ‘read for your toys’ rule
It wasn’t about the money, obviously. He had plenty of that. It was about something he worried his fame and fortune might quietly steal from his kids. The simple feeling of earning a thing, instead of just being handed it.
Paris has put it well. She said it was about earning things rather than feeling entitled to them, working hard for something so that getting the toy actually felt like you’d accomplished it.
Paris on her down-to-earth upbringing
There’s something lovely in that. A man who never really got a normal childhood himself, working this hard to make sure his own kids got one. He couldn’t give them anonymity, or an ordinary last name to hide behind. But he could give them the plain, grounding lesson that good things are worth earning.
Years on, Paris still talks about that rule, and not as some strict thing she resented either. She calls it one of the most important lessons her dad ever gave her. Funny how a pile of library books turned out to be the real gift.