Keeping them in line: Mr Gates and his wife Melinda with their daughters Jennifer and Phoebe during a family holiday in Rome in 2009
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.
微软公司创始人比尔•盖茨近日坦露了他的为父之道，他认为13岁是孩子拥有第一部手机的合适年龄。
作为三个孩子的父亲，今年57岁的比尔•盖茨在《今日秀》节目上透露，他的长女珍妮弗和长子罗里直到他们13岁生日那天才获准拥有自己的第一部手机，而他最小的女儿菲比仍在等待中。
这个白手起家的亿万富翁解释道：“我们家的规定是直到13岁你才能拥有手机。”
盖茨说，由于这项规定，孩子们从学校回家后常抱怨说：“其他孩子都有手机，我是唯一一个没有手机的人，这很令人尴尬。”
当被问及是否保存儿女邮箱和脸谱网帐号的密码时，盖茨说他并没有保存16岁长女珍妮弗帐号的密码，因为他觉得她已经“独立”了。
盖茨承认监督子女的线上活动“对于现在的父母是一件非常棘手的事”。
盖茨一家住在华盛顿州西雅图市外的麦地那湖附近，尽管盖茨夫妇拥有巨额财产，但他们表示想尽量让自己的孩子像普通人一样成长。
先前有报道说，盖茨的三个小孩子在家中要做家务，零花钱也不多。
2010年盖茨曾提到他打算把他610亿美元财产中的大部分捐赠出去而不是留给自己的孩子。盖茨说，留遗产“既不利于孩子，也不利于社会”。
盖茨于2008年从微软公司辞职并专注于慈善事业。在《今日秀》的访谈中，他还告诉主持人马特•劳厄尔说，帮助他人和创造软件一样让他活力十足。
盖茨解释道：“你内心的真实感受就是你的成就。如果一款新开发出来的软件受到许多人的喜爱，还能让他们更好地完成工作——将是一件令人兴奋的事。”
比尔•盖茨曾经是全世界最富有的人，不过在他决定把280亿美元的资产捐赠给慈善事业后，他便失去了首富宝座，在全球富豪榜上排行第二。
brood: （一家庭的）所有孩子们，同父母的孩子们
step down: 辞职；退位，下台