Obama girls take childhood in stride
2013-01-17 10:03
Washington -The Obama girls have quietly made a mark of their own: shielded
from public over-exposure, they are growing up with rules and responsibilities
and making it look easy, even though they live in the White House.
Malia and Sasha Obama were 10 and seven respectively when they followed
their father Barack Obama into the White House, which after his re-election
will remain their home for another four years.
"I am pleasantly surprised at how normal they are," their mother
Michelle Obama said in a recent ABC News television interview.
"I did worry what this life would be like for them - could I keep them
normal, could we instil in them the values that we learned growing up: humility
and decency and treating people with respect," she said.
"They are wonderful young women. We are so proud. They are
level-headed, they work hard, they care about people. They are good solid
kids."
Private
Malia now, at 14, is almost as tall as her father, while Sasha, 11, who four
years ago was the youngest kid in the White House since John-John Kennedy in
the early 1960s, often appears smiling with her dad's arm lovingly around her.
Their parents routinely rave about, but jealously guard their privacy - a
task made easier by a willingness among American news media to keep the
spotlight of publicity well away from the girls.
For the past four years they have only appeared before the cameras when
their parents were present - at the lighting of the national Christmas tree,
for instance, or on stage at the Democratic convention, or boarding or
disembarking from Air Force One.
Under constant Secret Service escort, they attend the private Sidwell
Friends school.
Schooling, music
The school, with Quaker roots and little in common with Washington's
struggling and much-berated public schools, charges nearly $35 000 a year for
tuition and a daily hot lunch, according to its website.
Outside of class, Malia plays tennis and Sasha basketball. Neither is known
to be on Facebook, but they have slept over at friends' houses, gone to summer
camp and competed in athletic events.
They also both like Beyonce, who will sing the National Anthem at Monday's
public inauguration of Obama's second term.
(Another former child resident of the White House, Chelsea Clinton, now 32,
will attend the inauguration as honorary chair of the National Day of Service
aimed at getting more Americans to do volunteer work, organisers said.)
Lately, in terms of fashion, the younger Obamas - perhaps taking cues from
their mother, a national fashion icon - have revealed a penchant for belts,
cardigans and flared skirts.
Despite living in stately splendour, Malia and Sasha are, according to their
mother, still expected to make their beds and tidy their rooms before heading
off to school.
Rules
Television is off-limits on weekdays, when they can only use computers for
homework.
At the dinner table, said Michelle Obama, who campaigns against childhood
obesity, "the girls have to eat their vegetables - and if they say that
they are not hungry, they cannot ask for cookies or chips later."
"From all outward appearances, the president and first lady have done
an extraordinary job of parenting in a difficult position," Doug Wead, a
former adviser to president George Bush senior and author of several books
about presidential families, told AFP.
"I say 'from outward appearances' because, as one who has worked in the
White House and as a historian, I am well aware of the fact that much of the
personal detail of the first families is not known until many years
later."
But Wead added: "I have interviewed many of the children of presidents -
and they remember the time as the best in their lives... Daddy is home almost
every night."
As for the president himself, he recently told Newsweek: "Now, I worry
about them when they're teenagers ... and dating I think will be an issue
because I have [Secret Service] men with guns surrounding them at all
times."
