‘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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Michelle Obama just became one brave mama with her announcement that her pediatrician had to give her a heads up on her girls’ potential for a weight problem.

But did her attempt to personalize the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic unintentionally send a bad message? Continue reading »

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The emergence of the Swine Flu and the resulting vaccine has sent conspiracy theorists into overdrive.  One doesn’t have to look very hard to find fringe groups who sincerely believe that the H1N1 virus is a “bioterrorism attack by the New World Order” and that the vaccine itself is a “eugenics weapon” aimed at reducing the world’s population.  As evidence of their theories, they point to the fact that President Obama refuses to have his own children vaccinated against the virus.

Those conspiracy theorists will now have to look elsewhere for their proof as the White House has announced that Sasha and Malia Obama received the H1N1 vaccine last week.

While that should shut the conspiracy theorists up for a while, something tells me it won’t.  The same article on the White House Blog confirms that while the First Daughters were vaccinated against H1N1, the President and his wife were not.  They received only the seasonal flu vaccine.  Of course, the President and First Lady are not in the priority groups for the vaccine as identified the by CDC – those under the age of 24, pregnant women and people with underlying conditions. But a good conspiracy theorist never lets the facts get in the way.

Image: sxc.hu

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A Florida girl is now the poster child for an effort to get more nutritious lunches in the nation’s schools. The face of Jasmine Messiah, 8, will appear in posters all over D.C. as a part of the Healthy School Lunches campaign’s effort to lobby Congress.

In the poster, a dialogue bubble asks why the Miami-Dade County, Florida, girl doesn’t get healthy lunches like the First Daughters do. In fact, Jasmine is a vegetarian, but there are not vegetarian options in her school cafeteria.

The Obama girls get vegetarian options — and more. Why, Jasmine wants to know. Why? Continue reading »

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Sasha and Malia paid a visit to their mom and dad. But not the Obamas made of flesh and blood, nope this parental unit was made of pure wax. This duo doesn’t live at the White House but rather at Madame Tussaud’s Washington D.C. outpost.

According to an AP report, the two girls giggled at the site of the replicas of their parents and thought is would be “hilarious” if they took photos with the pair. There’s no word if they opted to do so or not. But they didn’t just go there to visit mom and dad.  During their visit they also checked out – and took photos of – Continue reading »

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I’ve got to say Malia Obama’s got it rough. Having a holiday birthday is one of those things little kids usually moan about, but being a July 4 baby as the president’s daughter?

I’ll concur with a commenter on Jezebel’s coverage of the presidential birthday celebration for Malia: “that blows.” Continue reading »

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There’s nothing that gets me more riled than someone constricting the freedoms of the press. Except maybe the president of the United States trying to repress the press.

President Obama has inflamed White House photographers yet again over his on-again, off-again rules for photographing the first kids. Continue reading »

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