Michelle Obama and Barack Obama are celebrating being empty nesters! The former FLOTUS and POTUS officially have no (human) children in the house – as their daughters Sasha and Malia are both away at college. Sasha, 18, has enrolled at the University of Michigan, and her 21-year-old sister Malia is away at Harvard University.
Like any parents, there were tears when they dropped their daughters off at school, but there was also hope. "I'm excited for my girls to grow up and to become independent," she told Today. "You feel a little melancholy that they will never be the little ones that sit on your lap and listen to your every word and look at you adoringly. Those days are over."
Michelle didn’t send her girls off without some words of encouragement. Here is a rundown of Michelle’s essential tips for her girls when it comes to navigating social media, packing and balance while away at college.
1. Pack light
The former First lady revealed that it was only after Sasha settled in her new dorm and pared down her wardrobe for her smaller space with mom’s help – "I had to tell her, girl, you cannot keep all these clothes, and these shoes!”
2. Be careful on social media - you’re being watched!
If Sasha and Malia always feel like someone is watching them...it’s because there is! The former FLOTUS admitted that she has her own form of social media secret service looking out foe her girls. Michelle said that there are younger friends and mentees that follow Malia and Sasha on social media, but their parents don’t. “It’s better for them to be checked by somebody younger than me.”
3. Have a problem? FaceTime mom
Mich revealed that although she is states away, she is still the first person her daughters call if their is the slightest inconvience. “It’s like my children can be all elegant and saying interesting points and then I get a FaceTime because somebody doesn’t know how to get a stain out of their duvet cover and I’m like, ‘Oh, you’re still a baby. You don’t even know how to do laundry right yet.’ ”
4. Be grateful
One of the lessons Michelle passed on to her girls is the idea of celebrating what you have and giving thanks. “I have nice clothes and jewelry now, but my mother made my clothes. I mean we were raised with the [idea that] that’s enough. You be grateful for what you have and you don’t look at the next thing. You be happy with what you have, and that’s how we worked in the White House. That didn’t change because we moved to a different house… The House didn’t define us. It’s the values that defined us.”
5. Walk your own walk
Sasha and Malia have big shoes to fill, but according to their mom, they don’t have to worry about that. Michelle noted that she and Barack encourage their daughters to be their own person. “What I tell them is that they have to walk their own walk. They cannot define themselves by looking at each other or looking at me or their dad. They have to take the time to get to know themselves — give themselves a moment to figure out who they want to be in the world, not who they think I want them to be, not what the rest of the world says about them, but to really think about how they want to shape their lives and how they want to move in this world. So, I don’t want them measuring themselves by external influences, and for young girls that is hard to do.”
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