I picked up the recent issue of Oprah magazine to indulge my fascination with our elegant first lady, Michelle Obama. As you may know from previous posts, I am still carefully forming my response to this female dignitary. While Mrs. O is obviously thoughtful and pointed in her child-rearing, I grow concerned when I see any mother send out the message that "you can have it all." I am watching Mrs. O with diligent scrutiny because I believe many mothers will see her as a role model for the manner in which she raises her daughters.I recommend reading Oprah's interview with First Lady Obama because her role as a mother is truly pronounced in its pages. I was moved to read of how pointedly Mrs. O noted, "I want the kids to be treated like children, not little princesses...So the girls help set the table, they help bring the food out, they work with the butler staff." Mrs. O is also making a valiant effort to guide her children towards respect for elders, something I admire and also find not especially easy to do in my own experience as a mother.
The bottom line: Go, Mrs. O. This lady, with her iconic belts and precise, long-range goal-setting for her family, will change our nation in a positive way. I hope that the ethics I admire most about her mothering are the ones the nation continues to see in the spotlight.
2 comments:
I saw a preview of that interview on the Oprah web site. Now that I know the full article is available in stores I want to check it out. Thanks for the reminder!
Ok and she is also a Harvard educated lawyer who had a really successful career. And she didnt have her kids til well into her 30s and then modified her career to make it work with her family. She seriously gives me hope for myself. I don't think her message is - "you can have it all" - but rather - "you can want it all, but you cant have it all at the same time." Everything has a season, but apparently not her belts. Love it.
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