Michelle Obama is one of the most trusted voices in the country. After serving as First Lady for two terms and publishing various books on bettering yourself, her advice is one that her supporters trust and seek.
In a recent appearance on "The Moments That Makes Us" podcast with Melinda French Gates, Michelle opened up about raising her daughters. She revealed the "extra strict" rule she gave them to help them grow into independent people.
© Boston GlobeMichelle revealed that it was a priority for her to raise her daughters as independent people despite their parents and their achievements. “I had to raise them to be stand-up young people on their own, especially as the daughters of a former president,” she said.
“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.”
Then she shared one of her favorite parenting lines: “As my girls joke, I always said — my favorite line was, ‘I’m not one of your little friends.’”
Michelle has two daughters with her husband Barack Obama, Sasha, 23, and Malia, 26.
© GettyImagesMichelle Obama on the experience of having her daughters grow up
Michelle has also discussed raising her daughters as they grow up, a vastly different experience than raising them as young girls. In an episode of her podcast "The Light," where Hoda Kobt was one of the guests, she discussed how her role as a mother has changed and how that has impacted her relationship with her daughters.
"I'm moving from mom-in-chief to advisor-in-chief," she said. "That's a lovely thing — to be able to watch my girls fly and have the relief that 'Okay, I think I didn't mess them up.'"
