Barack Obama got candid about raising children while sitting down on the IMO podcast, hosted by his wife Michelle, in an episode that drops on Wednesday July 16.
The former President shares his two daughters Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24, with Michelle, and helped them navigate life in the public eye while growing up in the White House.
Parenting 101
© Instagram"I think we did a pretty good job of raising our girls, but I've said often that I think I would have had more difficulty raising a son," Barack said on the show, an opinion with which Michelle agreed.
"I think I might've been more judgmental, harder, and I would've tried to — I'd like to think I would have been more self-aware enough to combat that, but I just think father-son relationships, for me, particularly if I don't have a dad around to show it to me, might've been more difficult," he continued.
The 63-year-old's father, Barack Obama Sr., was largely absent from his upbringing in Hawai'i. He left Barack's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, when he was just two, and only visited once from Kenya before his death at 48 years old.
Raising boys
© InstagramBarack then went on to discuss the difficulties of parenting boys in the current political climate, and how their behavior is becoming more extreme in some circles.
"If you're not thinking about what's happening to boys and how are they being raised, then that can actually hurt women," he said.
"Some of the broad political trends we've seen not just in this country, but around the world, have to do with this sense of boys, men, not feeling as if they are seen, feeling as if they count."
© Getty ImagesHe added that certain figures could appeal to struggling boys and men by placing the blame on women, explaining that "that's not a healthy place to be".
"We rightly have tried to invest in girls to make sure that there's a level playing field and they're not barred from opportunities," the father of two said.
"We haven't been as willing, I think, to be intentional about investing in the boys, and that's been a mistake."
Terrible teens
© InstagramWhile Barack and Michelle are endlessly proud of their daughters, the Becoming author did acknowledge that "every weekend was a nightmare" when the girls entered their teenage years while living in the White House.
"They became teenagers and they had to drive and they had to go to prom," she recalled on SiriusXM's Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa podcast.
"They went to parties and they had drinks, and they tried out smoking and they did all the things and every weekend was a nightmare because we had to work to make sure that them being regular teenagers didn't wind up on Page Six. So it was a lot of work," she added.
Independent women
© InstagramMalia and Sasha now live together in Los Angeles. The 27-year-old is a talented filmmaker who directed a Nike advertisement, and also made her directorial debut in 2024 with The Heart. In addition, she was a screenwriter for Donald Glover's Swamp and Prime Video's Swarm.
As for Sasha, she graduated from the University of Southern California in 2023 with a sociology degree.
"They are amazing," Michelle said on The Jennifer Hudson Show. "Sasha is in school, Malia has a budding career in film. They are smart, they're funny, they're wise in their own ways and I love spending time with them."
To learn more about Malia's budding film career, watch below...
