Michelle Obama Discusses Raising 2 Daughters During Obama Presidency

Michelle Obama has been making quite a few media appearances lately.

This is likely why there are so many rumors that she is considering a run for the White House (she’s not).

What she did offer insight to, however, was the boundaries she had to set with her girls while living under the microscope in the White House.

Setting Limits

Obama just released a new book called “The Light We Carry.”

To promote the book, Obama appeared on the podcast, Moments That Make Us.

She stated, "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.'…and I think it makes parenting very easy…I just want you to respect yourself and know what works.

“We don't have to be friends, and through those boundaries, we are such good friends, but there were some lines drawn."

She continued, "So I felt my job was raising people and when you're raising people rather than babies you make different decision.

“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. So they have to come correct."

I have never been one to focus on political children, but not every journalist abides by that strategy. To that point, Michelle noted that her girls would get unwanted attention, so she tried to explain to them the proper way to deal with this as a public figure.

She explained, "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. 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.'”

When they lived in the White House, the girls were 7 and 10, but they are both grown and out of school now.

Sasha, 23, just graduated from USC, and Malia, 26, is hoping to make it in the entertainment industry, recently showing a short, “The Heart,” at the Sundance Film Festival.