President Barack Obama opened up about the pain he feels watching his daughters, Sasha and Malia, grow up and have "teenage moments."
"[T]hey love you, but what I think really affects you most is they just donβt have time for you," Obama told Bill Simmons for an interview in GQ. "Itβs not an active disdain for you. Itβs just their calendars start filling up and theyβve got all these friends who are much more interesting."
Though he said it's sad that his daughters don't have as much time for him now that they're teenagers, he said it's worth it to watch them grow into people "smarter and cooler" than he is:
And you just have to let go, you have to acknowledge that if you say to them, βHey, you want to go watch this movie?β or βHey, you want to go take a swim at the pool?β βNo, sorry, Daddy. I love you, though. See you tomorrow, βcause Iβm spending the night at somebodyβs house.β The golden age is between, say, 6, 7, and 12, and theyβre your buddies and they just want to hang out. And after that, they will love you, but they donβt have that much time for you. And my understanding is, based on friends of mine who have older kids, is that with a little bit of luck, as long as youβre not so completely annoying during these teenage years, theyβll come back to you around 23, 24, and actually want to hang out with you. But that stretch is painful. The compensation you get for the fact that they donβt have time for you is: Nothing beats watching your children become smarter and cooler than you are. And you suddenly will hear them say something or make a joke or have an insight and you go, βWow. I didnβt think of that.β
Obama has been vocal about how he's dealt with his daughters growing up, saying in September he was "freaked out" while sending his older daughter, Malia, off for her first day of her senior year of high school. In 2014, when Malia began looking at colleges to attend after her May graduation, the president said he was "trying to get used to not choking up and crying and embarrassing her."
Obama also told Simmons he's impressed by how tech-savvy his girls are, calling them "complete ninjas on the phone."
"[T]hey can do things that I donβt even understand -- theyβre doing it in two seconds," Obama said.
Read more from Bill Simmons' interview with Obama at GQ.
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