Former First Lady Michelle Obama reflected candidly on parenting during a recent episode of her IMO podcast, where she acknowledged she’s grateful, in hindsight, that she never had to raise a son with former President Barack Obama—citing the unique challenges boys face and the pressures that would have come with raising a “Baby Barack.”
Joined by her brother, Craig Robinson, and radio host Angie Martinez, Obama discussed the realities of raising children—especially boys—in a world filled with complex social pressures, racial dynamics, and emotional challenges. Her message was clear: love isn’t enough. Parents, especially mothers, must prepare their sons to face the real world.
“Please, mothers, please make these men ready,” she urged. “Get them ready for hurt and disappointment and make them resilient. And you can’t do that if you’re monitoring his friends and trying to interfere and make life easy for him at a young age. Because he won’t be ready for what is inevitably out there. I don’t care what race he is.”
Obama expanded on a well-known adage, adding her own emphasis:
“People say mothers raise their girls and love their sons, and I’d say, ‘Love your son, but raise him too.’ Raise him to be as strong as you know he’s going to have to be. Teach him about how to deal with a traffic stop, but also teach him how to communicate in a marriage and be a listening father.”
Martinez, picking up on the theme, quipped that Obama should have had a boy of her own.
“You should have threw a boy in the mix.”
Obama’s response was telling:
“I’m so glad I didn’t have a boy, because he would have been a Barack Obama.”
“Oh my, Baby Barack. It would have been amazing,” Martinez joked.
But the former first lady was quick to counter:
“Ooh. No. I would have felt for him.”
Her brother, Craig Robinson, added with a laugh, “She just borrowed our boys.”
