© NBC - Getty ImagesMichelle Obama, the former first lady, has spoken to People Magazine about her experiences with having her daughters move back in during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michelle Obama has shared her most recent parenting discovery, after her grown-up daughters moved back in due to the pandemic.
The former First Lady revealed that - like many parents - her daughters Malia, 22, and Sasha, 19, had returned home after their universities moved to online study.
'Our girls were supposed to have emptied out of my nest,' she told People. 'I was sort of celebrating that they were out building their lives and allowing me the emotional space to let them go. Well, they're back!'
And though it is an adjustment for anyone to have their children return home, the former First Lady feels it's given them an opportunity, as a family, to recapture some 'stolen moments' with the two young women.
'This time has allowed us to get some stolen moments back with our girls,' Obama says. 'Those recaptured moments have meant the world to us and I think they've made our relationships with our children even stronger.'
She added that all living under one roof, after her kids had become independent, has been a learning curve for everyone, so it was important that 'they didn't come back' under the same set of rules as before.
'There's something about witnessing your children become adults and developing a different relationship with them,' she said. 'They didn't come back into the house into the same set of rules, because I didn't want them to miss out on independence. They came back as young women and our conversations are more peer-oriented than they are mother-to-daughter.'
And we're certain that many parents and guardians will be able to relate to seeing a different side to your children, as they interact with peers and teachers on video calls.
As Obama explains: 'With everybody homeschooling, what's interesting for me is to listen in on some of their classes to hear how they interact with their professors. When your kids are off in college, you don't get to see that part of them.'
Outside of adjusting to the changes that come with having children at home, the 57-year-old also discussed the new hobby she has taken up during the pandemic. While her children joined online university classes and enjoyed cooking for the family, she found herself knitting.
'Knitting is a forever proposition,' she said. 'You don't master knitting, because once you make a scarf, there's the blanket. And once you do the blanket, you've got to do the hat, the socks. . I could go on about knitting!'
In fact, in an interview with People back in November 2020, Barack Obama confessed that he already owned several bespoke hats by his wife: 'She can crank those out.'
Any one keen for the former First Lady to start an Etsy shop? We'd definitely have a browse.
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