Ex-President Barack Obama
“Crying” and “bribing” – the father of two gives tips for letting go
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It is a painful incision that many parents are probably familiar with. The children leave the house and suddenly life seems a little emptier. A process that former US President Barack Obama also had to go through.
If you think of Barack Obama, 60, you first see the radiant statesman in front of you. A hope that brought new splendor to the White House in 2009 with his wife Michelle Obama, 58, and their children Malia, 23, and Natasha, 20. The law graduate was President of the United States of America for eight years. After the office, not only a reorientation in professional life was on his agenda. The biggest challenge had to be mastered in private: when his grown-up daughters went out into the world, the politician suddenly had to develop a contingency plan in his private life as well.
Ex-President Barack Obama: When he said goodbye to his daughters, even he lost his sovereignty
Obama recently revealed how difficult it is to let the children go in an interview with TV presenter Al Roker, 67. For NBC’s “Today Show” the two men accompanied a group of young people on a scavenger hunt in the Great National Park in Virginia. While observing birds, the two fathers came up with a topic that concerns many parents: How do you deal with it when your own offspring suddenly fledge and leave the nest at home?
Roker has this experience yet to come. His son Nick will be going to college soon. Barack Obama has already experienced the pain of separation in all its severity: Natascha, who is called Sasha by the family, is in the middle of her studies. Her older sister graduated from Harvard University last spring.
“They went through it,” the moderator noted. “Do you have any tips for us regarding empty nests?” It may come as a surprise, but the sovereign ex-president seems no more composed when it comes to family matters than other parents when it comes to letting go. “Well, the first tip is that if you drop Nick off at college, you’ll cry a lot. But you just can’t let him see you cry. So you better take him there, hurry away, and cry in the car.”
Michelle Obama relied on the independence of her daughters in her upbringing
Another tip would probably have ruined Obama’s reputation in office. “Tip number two is that you should try to bribe her with nice trips. ‘Hey, we’re going to Hawaii, do you want to come?’ – So that they show up,” says the tricky tactician.
Incidentally, his wife seems to have come away from the children much more composed as a result of the process of cutting the umbilical cord. “Michelle always said, and she’s absolutely right, that it’s our job as parents to teach our children not to need us,” Obama revealed of the mother-of-two’s top parenting maxim. “And it hurts, but when you see them as accomplished, confident, kind, thoughtful and responsible people, then you know you’ve done your job.”
Sources used: people.com, today.com