As the parents of two teenagers, first lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama will soon have an empty nest as Malia and Sasha make their way to college. Although the first lady said she’ll miss her daughters, during a recent interview with ET, she also said that the girls are prepping her and the president for their college departure.
"We're the last people our kids want to be with," Michelle Obama said. "I think they're conditioning us for that empty-nest syndrome, but we're not relishing that at all. We don't know what we're going to do. I got to get him some more hobbies."
Although the Obamas have no idea where their children will attend college, that doesn’t mean they won’t join them. Jokingly, the first lady told ET that she teases her daughters about moving close to their respective campuses.
"I threaten them that I'm going to buy an apartment near their campus and visit and sit in their classes, but that's an idle threat," the first lady said.
Threats—or at least threats of embarrassment—seem to keep the teen girls in line.
"Barack and I take great joy in embarrassing our children. We threaten them. Sometimes when you see me whispering to them in a crowd. I'm saying, 'Sit up or I'm going to embarrass you. I'm going to start dancing,' and it's 'No, Mom. Please don't. Stop!' But we get that. Our kids are as humiliated by us as the next. They take it in good stride."
Just because you grew up in the White House doesn't mean you're exempt from having your parents embarrass you in public.