Obama defends tight restrictions on Plan B, saying he's a father so he knows best.

Earlier this week I criticized Los Angeles Times health blogger Jeannine Stein for using President Obama’s daughter Malia as a springboard to write about something of interest to most parents in general. Namely, how kids grow in their early teens. I don’t think the media should use the president’s daughters whenever they want to make a point about young girls in general.

I don’t think President Obama should either. Continue reading »

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Is Michelle Obama your kind of mom?

As I’ve been feeling particularly mom-ly lately (having given birth for the second time at the end of August), I enjoy reading about the parenting philosophies of others. Besides the fact that she keeps talking about her daughters’ weight in public, Michelle Obama is my kind of mom. Not 100 percent, but pretty close.

A few days ago she chatted with some women at the White House about her Let’s Move initiative, but according to Yahoo! Shine, other topics were also discussed.

She had me at, “Like any mother, I am just hoping that I don’t mess [my daughters] up.”

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Solid advice from Mama Obama.

There will be a teenager in The White House next month. That’s when Malia Obama turns 13.  But, according to her mother, she’s already entered her teen years mentally.

In an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC News this week, the first lady offered up some advice for her girls – and all young girls – about falling in love. Continue reading »

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While I'm sure it's fun being the First Daughters and all, how much fun would it be for your mom to discuss your weight issues in an interview?

I’m sure all politicians would say that the decision to seek public office was agreed upon by their family — their spouses had to offer consent, and if their kids were old enough, they had some buy-in, too. But the reality is that the kids of politicians aren’t the ones meant to be making news unless they get pregnant, arrested, or make it to age 18 without having done either.

Which is why I can only imagine how little Malia and Sasha Obama feel every time their mom brings up the subject of their weight in public. I mean, these kids have enough on their plate with being 12 and 10 years old respectively, and living at the most famous address in the country. Do they really need their mom, First Lady Michelle, discussing their Body Mass Index (BMI) in an interview? I mean, really?

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Of Thee I Sing

Before taking on the Presidency Barack Obama penned two best selling books for adults : Dreams from my Father, and The Audacity of Hope. But his third book may make an even bigger splash on the best seller list.

Today Of Thee I Sing will hit book shelves all over. Written by our current president before he took office in January of 2009, and illustrated by high profile artist Loren Long famous for her work with the likes of Madonna and Frank McCourt, it sends an excellent message from a father’s point of view. Continue reading »

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In a recent interview with Ladies Home Journal, Michelle Obama said that she never talks about weight — hers or theirs — with her daughters, Sasha, nine, and Malia, 12.

“Well, I never talk about weight with my girls. I try not to even talk about my weight. Because you’re right, it is a sensitive issue. My girls are preteens and they’re seeing their bodies in a whole different way. We have conversations around health, food, and activity. I tell them sports are something I want them to engage in because it’s good for them. It’s good to practice teamwork, to understand what it means to suffer a loss, to win with grace. It has nothing to do with weight, it has everything to do with being a well-rounded person.”

Her comments are refreshing turnaround from those she and President Obama made earlier this year during the launch of her Let’s Move campaign. Then, President Obama was remembering when Malia was getting “a little chubby” and Michelle Obama talked about changes in her family’s eating habits after their pediatrician suggested the girls’ were gaining too much weight.  Both the President and the First Lady caught a lot of flack for being so openly honest about their girls’ bodies.

Unlike the First Dad, Michelle Obama seems to be a little more sensitive about what it means to be a girl growing up in America today, where you can’t even be a four-year-old in a pair of swimming trunks without the entire country going into cardiac arrest.

Like Obama, I’ve never discussed weight as something that can be good or bad with my girls either. They’ve never heard me call myself fat or disparage any part of my body. I’ve even cheerfully tried on swim suits with them watching on (even if inside I was vowing to do 1,000 situps a day from that moment on.) We have frequent conversations about healthy choices, about staying active, and about how taking care of our bodies is a form of self-loving. But we also talk, too, about how people’s bodies are just different — size included.

Avoiding body image issues in today’s America isn’t easy for pre-teen and teen girls, but my hope is that by de-emphasizing it at home, we can help our girls build enough confidence to fend off those unhealthy messages as they get older.

Do you discuss weight with your kids?

Photo: Alex Johnson, Flickr

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Older, Overweight Moms at Risk of Breastfeeding Difficulties

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‘The girls don’t watch TV during the week.  Period.”  So goes an executive order from our Commander in Chief that he is not likely to rescind any time soon.

The Obamas have a nightly ritual like any other family.  Sasha (8) and Malia (11) dive into their schoolwork after school until dinner–any remaining studying is attended to afterward.   But if the work is done?  No American Idol,  ditto iCarly, and you can forget Drake & Josh.  The TV stays dark.  It’s time to pick up a book…a practice that began when their parents read to them nightly when they were tots.  Bedtime is a strict 8:30 for Sasha and 9 for big sis Malia.

Education and personal responsibility are clearly priorities in the White House.   The girls are awakened by alarm clocks, make their beds and get themselves dressed every morning.  In the Obamas’ no-nonsense style of parenting, their daughters are responsible for getting themselves to school on time.

These are rules that the Obamas feel all parents can easily enforce, regardless of their economic situation.

“There’s no doubt that Michelle and I have more resources and privileges compared with a lot of parents. We understand that,” the President said in an interview appearing in  Esquire’s March issue. “But I don’t care how poor you are — you can turn off the television set during the week.”

Methinks that the Obamas are onto something.  What say you?  Are the First Parents on target or have they gone too far?

Image:  Dailyradar

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