For Obama Girls, There Is No Avoiding Their Chores

[ClarkUSA]

CONSIDER the perils of parenting in the White House... a movie theater, a bowling alley, a horseshoe pit, a swimming pool, five full-time chefs and dozens of household staff members ready to dish up ice cream at all hours. There are trips to foreign lands, dinners with kings and celebrities, swarming paparazzi and blaring motorcades, all with the potential to transform sweet little children into bossy, self-important ones... What are presidential parents to do?

Lay down the law, according to the newest parental unit in the executive mansion. President Obama and his wife, Michelle, might not be in Chicago anymore, but they say the old rules still apply when it comes to their daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.

In the Obama White House, bedtime is still at 8 p.m. The girls still set their own alarm clocks and get themselves up for school in the morning. They make their own beds and clean their own rooms. And when the much-anticipated pet arrives, they will walk the dog and scoop its poop... The Obamas have long believed that rules and routine help children thrive, particularly during unsettling times. During the presidential campaign, Mrs. Obama stuck so firmly to the 8 p.m. bedtime rule that Mr. Obama sometimes had to scramble to catch his
daughters awake.

“Michelle won’t keep them up just to talk to their father,” Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president and a family friend, told The New York Times in 2007... Mr. Obama said he tried to give Malia a regular allowance — $1 a week — but that fell by the wayside during the hectic presidential campaign. Still, he insists that the first lady, known among her friends as the taskmaster, is not the sole disciplinarian. “I’m not a softie,” Mr. Obama said during the ABC interview, in which he said that his wife could certainly “holler at them a little bit.”... And after a grueling presidential campaign, Mr. Obama says fatherhood has rarely felt sweeter.

“It turns out I’ve got this nice home office,” Mr. Obama said in an interview on NBC this month. “And at the end of the day, yeah, I can come home, even if I’ve got more work to do, I can have dinner with them,” the president said. “I can help them with their homework. I can tuck them in. If I’ve got to go back to the office, I can.”

Barack and Michelle are great role models both as parents and as individuals. They have the kind of family values I can relate to and their bedrock integrity towards each other and their kids is definitely something to emulate and/or aspire to. All kids should be so lucky.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Groupie!

I really like the kids.

[ClarkUSA]

2. How so? Because I am stating the obvious about a presidential family I can finally admire?

I really like the kids and admire their parents' family values and impeccable personal integrity, which I could never say about a
presidential family before in my life. If that's being a groupie, then I guess hundreds of millions of people around the world
are in that category.

[JTFrog]

4. He's just playing horse. You're the front end and he's being himself. n/t

[ClarkUSA]

24. lol!

Notice they always come a-sniggering in packs.

[Frustratedlady]

3. I agree! This First Family is SO refreshing. I hope they can get through his TERMS

without being tainted by the beltway attitude.

I can't get enough of them. Those girls are so sweet and polite. Of course, they will enter the teens, but I have a feeling the foundation is so strong for this family, they will work their way through it without many problems.

That's something to be able to say, in this day and age.

Just think, we could have had Sarah....

[disndat]

5. ditto

People don't understand what a huge responsibility being a parent is. Children grow up and develop well with a family that together and nurturing. Today dysfunctional families a norm. Obama and Michelle may be president and First lady of the U.S and the world, but they are caring, loving parents about all. They lead by example.

[Captain Hilts]

8. I like them a LOT. But this sort of swooning is weird. nt

[ClarkUSA]

9. Funny I didn't hear you say that regarding an OP about Hillary's talking about her "love" for Bill.

Gee, I wonder why... :eyes:

Pssst! The primaries are over. Move on. If you don't like OPs praising the Obamas, then stay out of them. Enough with your pissy
passive-aggressive whining already.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

11. IMO the only one who constantly brings up the primaries is you

you're the one bringing up Hillary when there was no correlation to anything in this thread. Your hatred of Hillary and the Clintons runs deep. Why is that? Please don't be a supporter who thinks you have to choose either "allegiance" to Obama or the Clintons, because that is so lame. I happen to be big fans of both; get over that.

[ClarkUSA]

12. I bring it up as a comparative analysis to the "swooning" Captain Hilts is whining about.

The correlation is clear to all but the most dimwitted and/or biased observers.

[AtomicKitten]

13. Riiight - because words like "groupie" and "swooning" are so post-primary.

:eyes:

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

17. and you know someone who says someone is "swooning" is thinking of the primaries...how?

please. Most of the stuff I post is probably swooning, but I could care less. If someone thinks its a swooning article, I don't automatically think "OH! WELL YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS YOU'RE PERSON DIDN'T WIN!!!!11"

[AtomicKitten]

18. You'd have to have actually been here during the primaries to have the perspective to speak

authoritatively about primary vs post-primary activities here, but you weren't, yet you do. No worries, that has never been an impediment to the posturing disguised as discussion here.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

21. What does it matter if I was here during the primaries or not?

just because someone has something negative to say about my article, its an automatic sign they supported Hillary and need to be called out on it? Um..ok...

[Captain Hilts]

14. Yeah. It's possible to like the Beatles and the Stones. They're BOTH great. I like Obama and

Clinton and get fried for having Stones albums with my Beatle albums.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

22. Thank you! Some people act like its impossible to actually GENUINELY LIKE

both Obama and the Clintons. We don't have to pick a side and denigrate the other.

[Captain Hilts]

23. That's right. nt

[BlooInBloo]

6. :))))

[dcindian]

7. Hey no one should be let off of doing the dog petting chore.

It is just not right and a must for children promised a dog.

[Captain Hilts]

15. I wish they'd get a dog. What are the Golden Retriever rumors? True? False?

[AtomicKitten]

10. K&R: "All kids should be so lucky."

:thumbsup:

[Captain Hilts]

16. Check this out...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5108518&mesg_id=5108518

[jesus_of_suburbia]

19. I have a feeling the Obama girls will grow up to be outstanding citizens just like Chelsea!

Can't wait to see them grow over the next 8 years!

[monmouth]

20. $1.00 a week????? Yikes, my kids would've gone on strike...LOL.