Michelle Obama has had to fight to keep her daughters’ lives normal while living in the White House, including pushing back against a “crazy” schedule.
Michelle Obama talks about parenting Malia and Sasha Obama in the White House
Former first lady Michelle Obama recalled the “crazy” parts of raising Malia and Sasha Obama in the White House.
Michelle Obama is opening up about life in the White House and motherhood.
In an interview on Kiki Palmer’s podcast, President Obama talked about helping her and former President Barack Obama’s daughters get into the White House at an early age. Malia Obama was 10 years old and Sasha Obama was 7 when Barack Obama became president, making them two of the youngest people to hold the White House in decades.
“For them, it was just trying to focus on their own lives. They could never take time off from school and what they had to do for school because there was something cool going on in the White House,” President Obama said on “Baby, It’s Kiki Palmer” on Tuesday, May 19. “They only had time off, which meant summer, and then spring break when they weren’t at camp. So the goal was to make their lives as normal as possible.”
To maintain some normalcy, President Obama said he encouraged his daughters to do typical things with friends, such as sleepovers and bar mitzvahs. They added that it took them some time to get used to inviting friends to the White House.
Michelle Obama remembers why she told her White House team to ‘never do that’
One of the things President Obama learned early on was that administrative reforms were needed to help girls serve as “little diplomats” — recalling their first trip to Russia as a family.
“They may have slept for three hours on the plane because of jet lag, and I had to get on the plane and wake them up, knowing they weren’t sleeping,” Obama said. “I thought, this is crazy. I said to[Barack]’This is ridiculous.’
After stepping off the plane, greeting the Russian people, and boarding a limousine to head to the Kremlin, the girls were left feeling overwhelmed. That’s when “Mama Bear” came out, President Obama said.
“Maria says, ‘I’ve never felt so bad in my life.’ And I said, ‘Honey, it’s jet lag,'” she said. “After that trip, we said to the team, ‘Don’t ever do that. Don’t plan a trip where your kids have to go to work as soon as you land.'” So from then on, if they weren’t sleeping, we’d get in another car and go to a hotel. ”
President Obama said he had to take into account that his staff at the time was young and didn’t have children himself, leading to “long and awkward conversations” about scheduling children and adults. That included preparing the Secret Service to handle the Saturday night schedule when the girls were older.
“It’s a little chaotic with a teenage schedule, but you let your kids ride in your own car, so you have to adjust to their lives now,” she says. “They have to be courteous, but they can’t hold back just because someone has to change shifts.”
She further added, “I don’t need every second of freedom. I can work with a clear schedule. My children are not going to be forced to do that during their developmental years. They need to learn to live life.”
She said she became an advocate for children after years of “practice” and finding her voice.
“You have to teach people what your rules are,” she added. “It takes a minute, and we did it at a high level.”
