Michelle Obama Shares Parenting Insights: 'I’m Not One of Your Little Friends'
Michelle Obama is no joke when it comes to work, but especially when it comes to being a parent.
On Thursday’s episode of the "Moments That Make Us" series with Melinda Gates, our forever First Lady explains why she and her husband, Barack Obama, were very strict with their daughters Malia and Sasha.
“There were some lines drawn,” she began.
“I had to raise them to be stand-up young people on their own, especially as the daughters of a former president. But people are quick to cut a kid off if you don’t show up right and you’ve got a name behind you. You have to come correct.”
She continued, saying, “I never felt my job was to create mini-mes, or create people who were going to live out some brokenness in me or fill some hole or to be my friend. As my girls joke, I always said — my favorite line was, ‘I’m not one of your little friends.”
That’s a Black mama right there!
“They are watched. They had to learn how to balance the unwanted attention, but do it politely. To build their own lives in the spotlight and not be eaten up by it,” Michelle says.
“Well those girls had to be smart and confident and independent straight away — even when they were living in a house with butlers and maids and florists. But I was raising them thinking, ‘You’re not going to live here, and with me, forever. So I’ve got to hand you your life soon and let you manage it.”
It seems the girls turned out alright. Malia, 25, is now a filmmaker, and her short film, “The Heart,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Sasha, 23, earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California in 2023.
Watch Michelle’s episode below.
