You might think Barack and Michelle Obama are the most successful parents. Not only have they brought up two wonderfully accomplished children but have done so while being President and First Lady. While it must be difficult to raise teenage girls one obviously must be extra careful if their children are in the limelight at all times. While Malia and Sasha Obama have almost never had a misstep, somewhere along the line they might have had to grow up sooner than usual. Could their parents have helped out more? Let's find out
Phones are a huge part of our lives, and especially for teenagers, it might just be their whole life. From connecting with friends to keeping up with the world a phone is, of course, the most helpful item. But the First Daughters, Malia and Sasha were banned from using phones while in the White House. They were only allowed to use phones on weekends especially after they turned teenagers. While screen time should be monitored for children, the no-phone policy is a bit too much
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Did you know Sasha Obama, the youngest Obama kid had to work at a really low-wage job just because her mother wanted her to know how the common American lives and earns? Sasha was just a child when she started out and worked a scrappy job at a takeout joint, while Malia's first job was at a fancy TV show set. This hardly seems fair to Sasha.
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It was assumed that America’s First Daughters would always be incredibly and yet conservatively dressed. Sasha and Malia were mostly seen in skirts blouses, trousers and leggings and of course, no skin show was allowed. This might have put a dampener in the teenager's lives as millennials nowadays have incredible wardrobes and get to experiment with all sorts of clothes. Malia and Sasha might have felt left out.
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Michelle Obama had often emphasised the importance of playing sports - two sports at that. It is important to note that the girls were already going through school, language classes and a bunch of other extra-curricular activities. Actively participating in two separate sports along with all their compulsory education obviously seems like too much of a stretch for two young children.
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The Obamas have often talked about how important it is to learn other languages. In fact, Barack Obama made Malia and Sasha learn Mandarin which is not just the most difficult language to learn but also the most time-consuming. While Mandarin is a valued language in the global economy it is harsh for the Obamas to expect the kids to learn Mandarin along with their additional responsibilities.
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One of the harshest rules the Obama kids have had to follow was the no social media policy. The Obama kids were not allowed to post any kind of provocative or even freaky images as they must maintain an image at all times. But in this era of social media boom, the social media ban was not just unfair but also lacking in logic as social media is also a powerful political tool.
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The no partying rule was strictly implemented by the Obamas. In fact, once Malia was reportedly ushered out of a party by the Secret Service. The Obamas have often stated that they don't like their children partying hard and while Malia is off to Harvard now and is free of most restrictions, Sasha is still very much under parental control. And for a 16-year-old a ban on partying can be quite a sad thing.
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Apparently, even after the Obamas left the white house there are some restrictions on the Obama kids. For instance, they possibly still can't make public appearances just with their friends or boyfriends but must be accompanied by their parents at all times. Which means no red carpets or fashion shows which they must be invited to all the time, given their connections.
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Holidays especially spring breaks and summer breaks are important as they help the kids to be away from the classroom where they can just enjoy themselves and are usually not pressured with a lot of homework. But apparently, Michelle would make her kids do classroom homework during their holidays which would affect their breaks. Did you know that Malia and Sasha had to go for mandatory camps for summers and when they returned they would have to write about it? In fact, they would even have to write reports about their international trips and vacations.
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The Obamas only want the very best for their kids and obviously want the kids to go to Ivy League colleges. Malia already goes to Harvard and this, of course, puts Sasha under a lot of pressure and she is just 16. Barack and Michelle have attended only the best Ivy League schools across America and needless to say they want their kids to follow suit. In fact, reports emerged that Obama doesn't want Sasha to take a gap year which was allowed to Malia as the later broke some rules during that time.
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Michelle had once said that Obama kids are supposed to do all their own chores even though they have a full White House staff for them. In fact, they wouldn't get their allowances unless they hadn't finished their chores and errands. With their overbearing education and extra-curricular activities, doing chores every day is not just taxing but unfair.
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The Obama kids have had to follow a strict code of diet as they were growing up. Healthy eating is one of Michelle Obama's causes and she started her own garden at the White House which she used for produce. Interestingly the children had to eat what their mother would tell them to. In fact, there was a no-carb policy at the White House and the kids weren't even allowed to casually have a snack of chips or cookies.
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The Obama kids are of course supremely talented but sometimes they would need to outdoor themselves to prove themselves to their parents. For instance, while growing up Malia and Sasha had a no-quitting policy which means they couldn't quit anything they have started learning and they had to learn quite a lot. This also meant that they had to stick with something even if they realised they were bad at it and that's quite harsh.
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While kids these days are steaming pretty much everything on their laptops the Obama children had strict restrictions on their TV privileges. In fact, they had to abide by a TV schedule and couldn't watch everything. This might have been a bad idea as TV is also a massive source of information and a lot of programming for young adults are actually pretty educational and restricted access to them would obviously affect the Obama kids in a bad way.
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It was reported that the Obamas keep a tab on who their children are mingling with. Socialising with people with a bad reputation or troublesome teenagers is a strict no-no. Malia has a boyfriend now, that she is off to college and probably won't listen to her parents' rules but Sasha still has to abide by them.
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