Michelle Obama reveals why she stopped spanking her daughters to discipline them: 'I felt embarrassed'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Michelle Obama opened up about a parenting lesson she learned the hard way. The former first lady confessed that she once spanked her daughters, but later, to her embarrassment, realized it was ineffective and didn't align with the family life she wanted to create.

Since leaving the White House in 2017, Michelle has been increasingly open about her experiences as a mother, wife, and public figure, often reflecting on the challenges of raising a family before, during, and after their time in Washington, DC.

Michelle, who has been married to Barack Obama since 1992, is the mother of two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

Michelle Obama opens up about a parenting decision that she now regrets

In a recent episode of her podcast, 'IMO', with her brother Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama opened up about a parenting decision she now regrets—spanking her daughters, Malia and Sasha, when they misbehaved.

She admitted it didn’t take long for her to question the method. “I felt silly,” she said. “It took a couple of spankings for me to be like, yeah, you know what? I don't want to do this anymore.”

Reflecting on the moment, she added, “This is a little kid. And the fact that I can't think of any better way to get my point across than to smack somebody on the butt. I felt embarrassed," as per UNILAD.

Michelle also used the conversation to comment on modern parenting trends. She observed that many parents today are so focused on protecting their children from failure that they’re living their children’s lives for them.

“I want to be a proponent for reinstating some of the stuff that we had,” she said. “You know, parents are too afraid to set those kinds of boundaries. And I think that’s also part of the challenge that we’re facing in this generation.”

Michelle Obama shares challenges of raising her daughters under spotlight

Michelle Obama continued to share candid reflections on motherhood, opening up about the challenges of raising daughters under the national spotlight and the importance of letting children learn from their mistakes.

Speaking on her podcast, she emphasized the value of teaching children “sense and judgment,” noting that modern parenting often leans too heavily on overprotection. 

“I think nowadays a lot of parents are trying to live their kids’ lives for them so that they don’t make any mistakes and don’t feel any sense of failure which keeps them from learning,” she said. “I raised you to have some sense, to have judgment. And at some point, you’ve got to practice that, which means that I've got to let go.”

Previously, Michelle also gave rare insight into what she described as the “nightmare” of parenting teenagers while living in the White House. Malia and Sasha were just 10 and 7 years old when their father, Barack Obama, became president in 2009, and they spent much of their adolescence in the public eye during his two terms, as per The Independent.

“They had to drive and they had to go to prom and they were on teams and they travelled to other schools and they had to do college searches and they went to parties and they had drinks and they tried out smoking and they did all the things,” Michelle said. “Every weekend was a nightmare, because we had to work to make sure that them being regular teenagers didn’t wind up."