Growing up in the White House: Malia and Sasha Obama’s incredible upbringing

In 2008, Malia was only ten and Sasha was seven when they left Chicago’s South Side for America’s iconic Washington D.C. residence on the day their father Barack Obama was inaugurated as president. Before the big change he told People that the girls were “not looking forward to moving” or “the prospects of having to make new friends”.

Their mum Michelle Obama even questioned: “What on Earth am I doing to these babies?” when she put her girls in a black SUV and sent them off with the Secret Service to school.

Now grown up, Malia, 26 and Sasha, 23, live a more private life after spending eight years of their childhood in the spotlight. While protective mum, former First Lady Michelle Obama, did her best to keep the girls’ lives relatively ‘normal’ there were — understandably — some moments that stood out as being extraordinary

From the Secret Service chaperoning the girls on dates to having fun sliding down the White House bannisters…what was life really like behind the big white gates?

In Michelle’s book, Becoming, she wrote about the awkwardness of the girls growing up with a constant security presence: “I mean, my kids had armed guards with them at all times, imagine trying to have your first kiss with a bunch of men (around)”.

Appearing on The Late Late Show, Barack joked about his daughter’s love lives being invaded by security. “They (Malia and Sasha) still have PTSD from guys talking into their wrist microphones and glasses as they’re trying to go to a music concert.’’

Aside from the guards, other house rules included not opening windows or going outside unattended on the White House grounds and no-one was allowed to carry their own house keys.

Mama Michelle was big on setting boundaries when they transitioned into their new Washington D.C. lifestyle. On Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast, she spoke of the task she faced: “It’s like, pluckin’ these little girls out of our normal life on the South Side of Chicago and then, putting them in a historic mansion with butlers and maids, and florists, and gardeners, and Secret service, and then trying to make sure that they understood boundaries, understood responsibility.”

She even put measures in place to make sure her daughters wouldn’t escape house chores. On ABC News she talked about her first visit to the White House: “The first thing I said to some of the staff when I did my visit because, of course, they’re like, ‘Oh, the girls, they’re so great,’ I said, you know, we’re going to have to set up some boundaries because they’re going to need to be able to make their beds and clean up.’”

An extra helping hand was Michelle’s mum Marian Robinson — who moved into the White House to help ensure the girls stayed grounded. Speaking on The Pivot Podcast, Barack praised the girls’ late grandmother, who sadly passed away in June: “She was the most down-to-earth, Southside, straight up. If the kids misbehaved, she’d be like, ‘Y’all know you haven’t done anything, right? Your parents have. Don’t you guys start acting entitled.’’’

Barack, 63, said that the girls and their routines made the White House feel less official and more family-orientated. “When you open a door and they’re in their pyjamas and they’re, you know, wrestling with you and asking you, you know, to read to them and stuff, you know it starts feeling like home pretty quick,’’ he told George Stephanopoulos from ABC news.

Whilst Barack was understandably a very busy man, he did have time to do ‘normal’ father-daughter stuff which gave him more bonding time with his girls.

The dad coached Sasha’s fourth-grade basketball team, with the help of personal aide Reggie Love. “Reggie and I took it upon ourselves to draw up some plays and volunteered to conduct a few informal Sunday afternoon practice sessions with the team,” he wrote in his memoir. “We worked on the basics: dribbling, passing, making sure your shoelaces were tied before you ran onto the court.’’

Ultimately, his position meant there were limitations to being a ‘normal’ dad. The former president had to eventually quit coaching Sasha’s team: “Of course, nothing about our lives was completely normal anymore, as I was reminded the following year when, in true Washington fashion, a few of the parents from a rival Sidwell team started complaining to the Vipers’ coaches, and presumably the school, that Reggie and I weren’t offering training sessions to their kids, too.’’

Barack wrote about his aide joking that: “They must think being coached by you (Barack) is something they can put on a Harvard application.” Ultimately he decided “that it would be simpler for all concerned if I went back to just being a fan”.

The White House had some fun secret spots contained within its walls — which Sasha and Malia learned about from the previous First Daughters. They bonded with President George W. Bush’s girls Barbara and Jenna Bush Hager, who diligently showed them the ropes.

In a since-deleted post on Facebook, the Republican worker said the girls were dressed inappropriately and that they ‘rolled’ their eyes at their father during the ceremony.

Following intense public criticism, Elizabeth issued an apology for her “hurtful statement”, admitting that she had made a hasty judgement. The post had gone viral, sparking accusations of overstepping boundaries in commenting on the private lives of the young First Daughters. The controversy led Elizabeth to resign from her position a few days later.

A White House spokesman Josh Earnest spoke on the situation at a press briefing: “I think all of us – and I think when I say ‘all of us’ I mean me and all of the people in this room – have the occasion to speak publicly with some regularity, and I think there’s a reason that when we do that we choose our words very carefully and we try to be mindful of how those words and messages will be received.”

On their final night in the White House, the girls planned a special send-off to bid farewell to the place where they’d grown up.

“They had a sleepover because of course on Inauguration Day, because my girls are so normal, they’re like, ‘Well, eight girls are gonna be sleeping here because it’s our last time, and we want pizza and we want nuggets.’ And it’s like, really?” Michelle recalled at the American Institute of Architecture conference.

At the talk, Michelle also opened up more about their final moments in the White House. “That moment of transition, right before the doors opened and we welcomed in the new family, our kids were leaving out the back door in tears, saying goodbye to people,” she said.

Ahead of their exit, Michelle had told chat show host Ellen Degeneres how much they would miss the White House staff. “Think about it: The girls have grown up in the White House. I mean, the staff that’s there – we see them every day,” she said. “These are people who have helped us raise our kids. They’ve loved us. They’ve taken care of us. The minute we leave, that’s it.’’

The family will no doubt look back fondly on their time in America’s most famous residence. But it by no means defines them. Reminiscing about their time as America’s First Family, Michelle posted a throwback picture on Instagram with some very sweet words.

“Home has always been where our family is…It hasn’t mattered whether we’re lounging on a couch in Chicago’s Hyde Park or, as we are here, in the White House,” she wrote. “We did our best to make the White House a comfortable place where our girls could climb trees and host slumber parties, where we’d have dinner together as a family, and where we tried to live by the values our parents instilled in us.’’