If you want all of the tea on the life and times of the Obama family, Michelle Obama’s podcast with her brother Craig Robinson— “IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson”—has got you covered.
On the latest episode that features Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, they spent a lot of time talking about the family unit and bridging the gap as parents with kids, Michelle shared about ‘growing up Obama’ for Sasha and Malia and how they related (or not) to their famous father, Barack Obama, as teenagers in the White House.
According to our Forever First Lady, Barack had more of a connection with his daughter Malia than Sasha, though clearly he maintained a deep love and fondness for both of his kids. But anybody with multiple children will tell you that each kid comes with their own personality and way of doing things, which requires parents to learn how to relate to them as individuals.
According to Michelle, Malia was intent on making time for her dad.
“I’d say this to Barack, when it comes to, you know, [our] oldest, Malia, she is going to figure out who you are, what do you like and let’s discuss,” she said. “When Malia was a teenager, it wasn’t that she was going out any less or doing anything differently; she would tell me, ‘I’m going out this weekend, but I’m going to go in and give dad like 15 minutes.’”
She continued, “Barack would come out of the Treaty Room and say, ‘I just had an amazing conversation with Malia!”
Any parent will tell you that a teenager taking an interest in you will engender all of the warm and fuzzy feelings. When my own 16-year-old daughter asks me how my day was, I start to tear up. I know she loves me, but, ya know, taking an interest? Swoon. If that is how you engage with one child, the oldest, if the younger is providing an entirely different, less attached experience, you might wonder why.
Michelle said that’s why Barack called Sasha “difficult,” which made Michelle explain to him that Malia was more of a people-pleaser and Sasha was…well, not.
“Sasha is like a cat. She’s like, ‘Don’t touch me, don’t pet me. I’m not pleasing you. You come to me,’” shared Michelle.
As a parent of four kids, I have a broad spectrum of kids. Some of my kids want to hang with us, and other kids will disappear for the entire day doing their own thing if we let them. As Michelle pointed out, you have to learn every kid’s temperament and meet them where they are.
Be that as it may, the Obama girls are no longer teenagers but young adults who maintain close relationships with their parents as they forge their own lives in the world, separate and apart from their famous mom and dad.
If there’s one takeaway from Michelle’s discussion about the challenges of parenting teens, it’s that all parents go through the same things, whether nobody knows your name or you’re one of, if not the, most famous parents on the planet.
