How Did Michelle Obama Keep White House Childhood Normal?

Michelle Obama tells Conan O'Brien that parenting in the White House meant a cocoon of normalcy. A parent-teacher conference could arrive with a 20-car motorcade, police telling a teacher to move, and people on the roofs. For eight years she and Barack answered the way a parent does when a toddler bumps their head: it's okay, go to school, you are safe. They still went to the conferences and the games and hosted sleepovers at the White House. Michelle praises the girls' poise, grace, and resilience. They met the pope and the queen, and they lost ordinary childhood, including Malia being recognized by fifth graders in a museum on a class trip.