As the leader of the world's most powerful nation, it may be hard to imagine how President Barack Obama balances his work and family life. But in a special essay he wrote for MORE Magazine, the American president and father of two teenage girls revealed that he couldn't have had a "more normal" family life if not for being the top man at the White House.
In his essay, Obama surprisingly revealed that since living in the White House, the times he spends with wife, Michelle, and daughters, Sasha and Malia, have always involved having dinners with everyone present.
"At 6:30 p.m., no matter how busy I am, I leave work to go upstairs and have dinner with my family. That's inviolable. My staff knows that it pretty much takes a national emergency to keep me away from that dinner table," Obama wrote, according to Today.
Like other regular households, it's at dinner times when he usually asks the girls questions about what's going on with them. "The highlight of my day is just listening to their thoughts about the world and seeing what smart, funny, kind young women they've become. That hour recharges me and gives me perspective."
The First Family didn't used to have these regular dinner times before and Obama admitted that when the children were younger, Michelle was "disproportionally burdened" with the task of raising the girls. "I suspect she felt a little like a single mom sometimes," he wrote.
They first thought that their schedules will become a bigger problem in the White House. But surprisingly, it only got easier. Even while saddled with the world's crises, Obama attended parent-teacher conferences with his wife or watched his kids' tennis games or dance recitals. He even had time to coach Sasha's basketball team and also revealed, "I've even experienced what all dads dread: watching my daughter go to her first prom. In high heels."
His term as president is about to end in 2016, but there's nothing he's dreading more than to see his eldest daughter, Malia, graduate from high school and leave home for college. He's already choking up at the thought, according to Huffington Post. "For as long as possible, I'm going to enjoy every minute of finally having us all together under one roof," Obama further wrote.
The full July/August 2015 issue of MORE Magazine, where Michelle Obama was a guest editor, will be out on June 23.
