(applause) Mrs. Obama:
How are you? Thank you. Thanks so much. All right, how are
you guys doing? Audience:
Good. Mrs. Obama:
Tell me a little bit about
what you've been doing today. (inaudible) We'll do raising hands. How about you? What's been going on? Audience Member:
Well, we went to
the pastry chef. Mrs. Obama:
Pastry chef. Did you get some pastries? Audience Member:
Yes. Mrs. Obama:
What kind of pastries
did you get? Audience Member:
It was like this foamy
blueberry stuff -- Mrs. Obama:
Foamy blueberry stuff. Audience Member:
-- that you dipped in an apple. Mrs. Obama:
In an apple. So it was a little
healthy, right? Audience Member:
Yeah. Mrs. Obama:
That's cool, that's cool. What else? What else did you do today? What about this young lady? There goes your mic. Audience Member:
We went to see the National Park
Service and the Secret Service. Mrs. Obama:
What did the Secret
Service tell you? Did you learn any secrets? (laughter) Audience Member:
No. Mrs. Obama:
No secrets? Audience Member:
Nope. Mrs. Obama:
Oh, well, what did
you learn about -- what did you do with
the Secret Service? Audience Member:
Well, we got to see a dog. Mrs. Obama:
A dog -- oh, one of
the guard dogs, yeah. Did they do any tricks for you? Did they show them anything
you can do -- they could do? Audience Member:
No. Mrs. Obama:
They're pretty
amazing, those dogs. What else? Who else? All right, what about you? What did you have
fun doing today? Audience Member:
We did some -- we looked
at some space things. Mrs. Obama:
Some space things. Where did you see space things? Audience Member:
Like we saw some rockets and
tools to fix space ships. Mrs. Obama:
Rockets? Pictures of rockets
or actual rockets? Audience Member:
Like models of them. Mrs. Obama:
That's good. I didn't know we had
rockets around here. It's the rockets. So I understand you guys
have some questions. Are there any people
with questions? (laughter) I think there are a few. Okay, let's start over here. Let's do some back of the room. White shirt. Audience Member:
How many fruit and veggies
do you have in your garden? Mrs. Obama:
Ooh, that's a good question. We have tons. I don't know exactly how many, but we have (inaudible) let's keep this going so
they can hear me. Can you all hear me,
hear me, hear me? Oh, it's over here, that's why. You know what, let
me get a handheld mic, because this isn't consistent. Okay. So we have a lot of lettuces,
so different types of lettuce. We have lots of herbs, so
garlic and rosemary and basil. And we plant snap
peas and tomatoes, and we've had some great
sweet potatoes in the fall. So you plant different
things at different times. We're trying to
grow some berries, but the birds keep eating the
berries off of the bushes. So this year we're
trying to cover them. Rhubarb, which is like a really
strawberry tasty delight that I love, you can make pies with it. We grow some of those. In the fall we try to
grow some pumpkins. We've got a few small pumpkins. We've tried watermelon. I don't think we did so
well with the watermelons. So we try to grow a little bit
of everything to show people that you can grow anything
you want, even in the city. So next time maybe you guys will
get a chance to see the garden. The weather wasn't nice
enough to take you out there, so maybe next year. All right, let's see,
we'll go boy, girl -- there's a young man on the
end in the very back row. Audience Member:
What's your favorite color? Mrs. Obama:
And you guys stand up. I want to know your names,
I want to know your ages, I want to know a
little bit about you. So what's your name,
what's your age. Audience Member:
I'm Nathan -- Mrs. Obama:
Nathan. Audience Member:
-- and I'm nine. Mrs. Obama:
Nine. Welcome, Nathan, who is nine. Audience Member:
What's your favorite color? Mrs. Obama:
My favorite color. You know what, Sasha asked
me this the other day, and it's hard for me to have a
favorite color because I like them all so much. I mean, look at this dress. It's got like every color in it. But I guess if I
had to pick one, it would be something
like lavender, purple. I tend to like those colors. What's your favorite color? Audience Member:
Purple. Mrs. Obama:
Purple? (laughter) You and me. You and me. All right, let's
go to this section. There's a young lady in
the pink right by you. Yes, you. You want to stand up. Tell us your name, your age. Audience Member:
I'm Claudia, and
I'm 10 years old. Mrs. Obama:
And I know what
else I want to know. Where does your
parent work here? Do you know? Audience Member:
He works for the Secret Service. Mrs. Obama:
Ooh, they're some
of my favorites. Yes. Okay, what's your question? Audience Member:
What's your favorite thing
to do in your spare time here? Mrs. Obama:
Oh, that's a good question. I exercise a lot
just to keep moving. I do that. You know, nowadays, I spend a
lot of time talking to my girls. They're at the age where they
have a lot of questions and a lot of conversations, so
dinnertime conversations, right before bedtime
conversations, I have fun doing that. Going out with friends
when I get a chance to. Going to the girls' games. We love doing that. So now it's soccer and lacrosse,
and that's what I'll be doing all day Saturday and Sunday. So those are the
kind of things I do. But probably like your parents, I
mean I do what your moms and dads do. And when you have kids, we
usually do what you do. That's what becomes
our favorite thing. Thanks. Let's go over here. We've got young man in the
bright green shirt right by you. Stand up, tell us name, age,
what your parent does here. Audience Member:
I'm Simon, and I'm 12, and
my dad works for the USTR. Mrs. Obama:
Cool. Audience Member:
And what's your favorite sport? Mrs. Obama:
Tennis, without a doubt. Favorite sport to
play is tennis. Favorite sport to
watch is tennis, and I do like basketball. I enjoy the game. I enjoy watching basketball. What about you? What do you like? Audience Member:
(inaudible) Mrs. Obama:
Are you good at it? Audience Member:
Yeah! (laughter) Mrs. Obama:
It's on now. I know, I know. It's mics, mics,
they can mess you up. Well, thanks for your question. We'll stay over here. We see -- there's a young lady
in the back with a gray and -- with a blue sweater. Yes. Stand up. Name, age, what
your parent does. Audience Member:
My name is Cynthia [phonetic]. I'm 10. And my mom works for the
Science and Technology thingy. (laughter) Mrs. Obama:
We value her service
at the thingy. (laughter) What's your question? Audience Member:
How do you choose your clothing? Mrs. Obama:
How do I choose my clothing? You know, it kind of depends
on what I'm doing today, so after this, I have
to do a luncheon, so I wanted to wear something
that was comfortable, but also kind of pretty because
it's a luncheon with some ladies. And -- but when I'm doing
something where I'm outside and it's going to be hot, or I'm
going to be running around, I'll wear something that's
comfortable for that. So it really depends on
the day and how I feel. I thought, I like this
dress, it's pretty, and I felt like
being pretty today. Did it work? Is it pretty? Am I working? Audience:
Yes! Mrs. Obama:
Thank you. See, it worked. It worked. All right, let's
come to this section. We're coming back around,
coming back around. Gentleman in the blue and
white stripe, yes, right here. Yes, you. You. Name, age, stand up. Audience Member:
I'm eight and my name is Timmy. Do you -- Mrs. Obama:
What does your parent do? Audience Member:
My dad is -- he works
for the U.S. drug czar. Mrs. Obama:
Yes. Audience Member:
And what's your
favorite football team? Mrs. Obama:
Oh, my favorite football
team -- Da Bears! (laughter) But you know what, I like the
Pittsburgh Steelers too because -- Audience Member:
When I -- Mrs. Obama:
What, what, what? Okay, I like the Dallas Cowboys. Who else? What else? Who else? The Giants -- what did you say? Audience Member:
The Jets! Mrs. Obama:
The Jets. See, you can't win
with that answer. Okay -- Audience Member:
I played for a kid
football league, and my team was the Bears. Mrs. Obama:
Yeah? You and me. You and me. The Bears. What position did you play? Audience Member:
I played a little
bit of linebacker, and I played offensive right
tackle and defensive left tackle. Mrs. Obama:
Nice, nice. You want to keep football up? Awesome, awesome. Thanks for sharing. Okay, we're coming over this
way, coming over this way. This young lady right here. Audience Member:
I'm Sabrina. I'm nine years old. My dad works at the OMB. Mrs. Obama:
You did -- did you
check it out on the tag? Audience Member:
Yes. Mrs. Obama:
Nice move. (laughter) Audience Member:
What's your favorite
part of the White House? Mrs. Obama:
What's my favorite part
of the White House? All right, there is my
favorite part outside. I like the Rose Garden,
especially now when it's spring, because it's really green, and
then the flowers are just so pretty, and you
see magnolia trees, and it's near my
husband's office, so it's kind of close to him. That's a pretty place. Inside I like -- my favorite room
is the Yellow Oval Room in our house. So did you guys get to
see the Blue Oval Room? Audience:
Yes. Mrs. Obama:
Well, we live right upstairs,
and there is a room that's similar to that that's in our
residence that's yellow, oval, and it's shaped the same way. But right next to it
is the Truman Balcony, and when it's warm,
you can go outside, and you get a great view
of the Washington Monument, and it's fun to sit out there. And if the girls are walking
Bo, we can watch them play. So that room is my favorite. Audience Member:
Okay. Mrs. Obama:
All right, thanks. Okay, let's go to the back of
the room, back of the room, back of the room. All right, young lady in the
green shirt in the back. Yes, you. Yes, stand up. Audience Member:
My name is Lucia,
I'm 11 years old, and my grandmother works for the
Executive Office of the President. Mrs. Obama:
Nice. Audience Member:
And my question is, if you were
to meet any famous person that has ever lived, who would it be? Mrs. Obama:
Wow, that's tough. That's a really hard question. Any famous person? Well, I've already met some
pretty cool famous people. I'm not sure if you
think they were cool, because they were cool --
like Stevie Wonder, very cool. Audience Member:
Oh, that's awesome. Mrs. Obama:
Paul McCartney,
who was a Beatle. Audience Member:
That's so cool. Mrs. Obama:
So cool. Oprah Winfrey. Amazing cool. Just met Willow Smith. She was here at the
Easter Egg Roll. Very cool. So there are a lot of -- there
are tons of cool authors and playwrights and scientists
and heroes and soldiers. I mean, that's one of the best
things about being in the White House, is that we get to meet so
many different people who are making impacts in the arts,
in science, in sports. So it's just -- it's endless. So I just enjoy
meeting everybody. But you know what? I enjoy meeting
you guys the best. Really. You guys are the most fun. You ask good questions,
and you're honest, and you're genuine. So I always love spending
time with you guys. All right, we're going
to stay on this side. We're going to move
up to the front. Okay, all right, you've got a
supportive person pointing at you. (laughter) So you get the next question. What's your name, age,
what does your parent do? Audience Member:
My name is Alex Costa
[phonetic] and I'm 12 years old, and I just want to ask what is
your job as the First Lady? Mrs. Obama:
What's my job? I don't know. That's a good question. What do I do every day? You know, there is no formal job
description for the First Lady of the United States, so we have
the good fortune of being able to decide what we want to do. And the issues that I care most
about that I've been spending a lot of time working on is trying
to end the epidemic of childhood obesity in this country
in a generation. So we've been doing a lot. We've developed a campaign
that we call "Let's Move," and it's designed to get people
moving and kids eating better, and that's one of the reasons
why we grew our garden. And Beyonce just did a video for
"Let's Move" and you all have to go online and see it. It is so good because Beyonce is
showing kids and parents that you don't have to
have a lot of money; that you can turn on your
favorite song and dance to it. So she redid one of her
songs for "Let's Move," so that's been very exciting. And I've been working
-- how many -- are there any kids whose parents
are in the military who are here? Well, one of the things that we've
been talking about -- you, too? Audience Member:
My dad is in the Army. Mrs. Obama:
See there? Well, we're trying to create
a national campaign -- Audience Member:
He used to be, but not anymore. Mrs. Obama:
The same thing. You've been a part
of a military family. Well, there are millions of
military families and military kids all over this country, and
we need to make sure that the rest of the country
knows you're out there, understands your sacrifice,
and that we're all working to support you. So we're grateful to your
parents, your guys' parents, and you guys for all that you
sacrifice for that country. So we're talking
about that, as well. So those are the
kind of things I do. So I travel around the
country as much as I can, trying to spread the word. I like to speak to students
like you guys as much as I can. So that's kind of my job. Does that make sense? All right, thanks. Audience Member:
My dad -- if my
grandpa was down here, we'd teach you how to
make a good watermelon. Mrs. Obama:
Oh, good -- to teach me how
to grow a good watermelon? All right, all
right, you hear that? We're going to get some
watermelon-growing advice here. Sounds good. We'll take you up on that. All right, we're going
to go to this section. The young lady in the
gray and white sweater. Yeah, you in the back, yes. Here comes the mic. It's coming, it's coming. It's here. Audience Member:
Hi, my name is Jada
[phonetic], I'm 11, and my mom does the
financing and budgeting. Mrs. Obama:
Oh. (laughter) Tell her thank you. Audience Member:
And my question is, what are
the disadvantages and the difficulties of
being a First Lady? Mrs. Obama:
The disadvantages
and difficulties? You know, probably one
of the hardest things -- and both the President
and I talk about this -- is that you can't just do
anything on the spur of the moment, right? So if right now, after
I wanted to leave here, and I wanted to walk out the
front door, and go to the store, that would create a lot of
problems for a lot of people. And it would be chaotic. So I can't do that. And that's like
the normal stuff. I mean, before we lived
here, we were normal people. I had a job, I drove my own car,
I took my kids to school every day. I went to Target and
shopped for my groceries. And, you know, that may
sound like minor things, but once you can't do
any of that ever again, you start feeling like, well,
this is a little strange. So sometimes it becomes
difficult to live in what we call a bubble. But the upsides are much better. I mean, I get to do things that
can impact the whole country for a long time. We can create a whole
conversation and focus the country's attention on
issues that we care about. And that's not something that I
could have done when I wasn't First Lady. So there are a few downsides,
but there are a lot of upsides. So, good question. Thanks. Audience Member:
Thank you. Mrs. Obama:
All right, we'll
shift over here. There's a young man in the
red and blue and white shirt. Audience Member:
What do you like doing -- Mrs. Obama:
Stand up. Tell me your name and your age. Audience Member:
My name is Tyler. I'm eight. Mrs. Obama:
Eight. Audience Member:
My dad is in the national
drug control policy. Mrs. Obama:
Nice. Audience Member:
What do you like
doing best with Bo? Mrs. Obama:
Doing best with Bo -- I
like to cuddle with Bo. Bo thinks he's a child. So some of the
funniest things -- and Malia and Sasha
thinks it's funny, too -- sometimes they're sitting on my
lap and he'll run and like try to move them out of the way
so he can sit on my lap. And Bo is big, so he's
not like a little puppy. He's a big dog, but he
thinks he's a puppy. What did you -- what were you -- Audience Member:
Yeah, our dog does that too. Mrs. Obama:
Yeah, yeah. But I kind of like it. It's sweet when he
wants to cuddle. So that's my favorite thing. And playing -- doing tricks with
him, seeing him learn tricks. So there's one thing. If he wants a treat, he's got
to sit, he's got to roll over, he's got to give
you a high five, he's got to do some
things for his treat. But he's so excited about the
treat that he almost can barely do the trick trying
to get to the treat, and that's funny to watch. You have a dog? Audience Member:
Yeah. Mrs. Obama:
What's your dog's name? Audience Member:
Tucker. Mrs. Obama:
Tucker. What kind of dog is Tucker? Audience Member:
Australian Labradoodle. Mrs. Obama:
Ooh, big dog, huh? Australian Labradoodle,
that's big, right? Audience Member:
He's still a puppy. Mrs. Obama:
Oh. Well, he's going to be big
and he's going to be fun. All right, thanks
for your question. We'll shift over here. All right, we've got a
young lady in the gray, right there on the end. Audience Member:
My name is Emma [phonetic],
and I'm nine years old, and my dad works for the USTR. And what inspired you
to help the military? Mrs. Obama:
What inspired me? You all. The military families inspired
me because I was probably like most Americans. We aren't part of
a military family. I mean, my dad was in the Army,
but it was before I was even born. But as I've traveled around the
country, I've got to meet -- have had the opportunity to meet
a lot of military families, a lot of moms, a lot of kids. And when you learn about
how much they sacrifice -- like I have -- I'm
just very proud, and I want to make sure the
rest of the country knows about Americans like our military
families who sacrifice so much and have to manage things at
home when they have loved ones who are fighting in a war, or
they're serving in some other way. So it was the stories of the
families that really moved me, and I wanted to make sure the
rest of the country knew about it. So that's that
we're going to do -- me and Jill Biden, who is
the Vice President's wife. We're going to be doing that. Sound good? Audience Member:
Yeah. Mrs. Obama:
All right. Okay, we'll stay over here. There's a young man in a green
shirt upfront right here, in the second row. Audience Member:
I'm Daniel, age 8. My dad is the head of
European Affairs, I think. Mrs. Obama:
Whoa. Have you ever been to Europe? Audience Member:
No. Just my dad. Mrs. Obama:
Well, Dad -- tell him
to get on it, all right? Audience Member:
Yes. I think he's already
been somewhere. Mrs. Obama:
Yes, but you. You should go. Tell him -- the First Lady
should say this summer, trip to Paris, how's that? Audience Member:
Okay. (laughter) Mrs. Obama:
Sounds good. All right, what's your question? Audience Member:
My question was, do you get
to spend a lot of time with Bo? Mrs. Obama:
Yeah, I get to spend
a lot of time with Bo. Yeah, he's around all the
time, just hanging out. He's just laying -- he's
probably asleep right now. But Bo has a job
himself, actually. He leaves every morning
and he goes down with Dale, who is one of the
head gardeners. And he's with all the
National Park Service guys. And you'll see him, and he's
like walking around with them, and looking at the plants. He really -- I think he thinks
he has a job because he takes it very seriously. So if I go out and see him, he
kind of ignores me when he's with his worker crew people. He's not as sort of hi, Mommy,
I want to be in your lap. He doesn't do that. He's like, I'm at work. I'm busy. (laughter) So he works until about noon,
and then he comes back, and he's tired, so he's
usually laying around. Audience Member:
I bet his next job choice
will be digging up the plants. Mrs. Obama:
Digging up plants. That's -- well, we won't
teach him that now. We want to wait till we
get away from the garden. All right, we'll
shift over here. All right, we're going
to go in the back. And we see the young -- is that
a young lady in the blue sweater with -- yeah, okay. Stand up, sweetie. Audience Member:
My name is Olivia
Ritchie [phonetic], and I am eight years old. And my dad works for the
National Drug Control Policy. Mrs. Obama:
Okay, what's your question? Audience Member:
My question is, what type of
school do Malia and Sasha go to? Mrs. Obama:
They go to a school
called Sidwell Friends. It's a Quaker school, and they
teach values of community and everybody is equal. I sort of like that. But they -- it's a
school in Washington. In fact, there are two campuses. There's a campus in Washington,
and there's one in Bethesda, which is the lower school. And this year Sasha
graduates from fourth grade, so she gets to go
to the big school. It's very exciting. There's graduation. There's a lot going on. It's big time stuff. She'll be in middle school, and
Grandma will be happy because there's one drop-off. That's really the big thing. Parents understand that. No more two drop-offs
after this year. But that's the
school they go to. What school do you go to? Audience Member:
I go to Mantua Elementary. Mrs. Obama:
All right, you like it? Audience Member:
Yeah. Mrs. Obama:
You're doing well? Audience Member:
Yeah. Mrs. Obama:
All right, good. All right, we're going
to shift over here. Let's see, let's see. Okay, gentleman in the
black polo shirt -- blue or dark polo shirt. Audience Member:
I'm Jack, and I'm 11 years old. And my dad works
for the drug czar. Do you like the White House
better than your old house? Mrs. Obama:
That's a good question. You know, it's very
different, you know? We like our old house, too. And when we get a
chance to go back -- and we don't get a chance to go
back often, that's still home, so the girls remember that as
their rooms, and they reminisce. And they go through their
closets where their books -- there are a lot
of memories there, so nothing beats memories. But we're creating
new memories here. And in so many ways,
this is home now. This is where the
girls go to school. This is where most
of their friends are. This is where their dad works. This is where we live, so
this has become home, too. But it's good to go
back when we can, although Chicago gets kind
of cold in the winter, so we kind of avoid it in the
winter because it's cold. So we don't miss the cold. So thanks for your question. All right, we're
coming over here. We're going to go -- okay,
young lady in the middle. Yeah. I know, I know. We're going to
get a few more in. Audience Member:
My name is Danielle [phonetic],
and I'm 10 years old. And my mom is the executive
chef of the -- and I would -- Mrs. Obama:
Take your time. Audience Member:
I just forgot. Mrs. Obama:
It's all that other information. All right, we'll do one thing. I'll take another question -- Audience Member:
Oh, yes. Mrs. Obama:
Oh, you got it? Okay, all right, good. Audience Member:
Did you plant the garden or
does the gardeners do that? Mrs. Obama:
You know I plant -- I helped. I helped to plant it. I worked with a bunch of kids
from schools in the communities, and we actually -- we
planted this -- two weeks ago, we did this planting. And because we had
a bunch of kids, it took us literally 30 minutes
to plant the whole garden because everyone was helping,
and that's the beauty of having a garden in the White House. It's not just the
National Parks people, and they help take care of it
and make sure it's watered, and they weed, but there are so
many people who want to help. We have volunteers who come on a
regular basis because they want to help weed the garden. We've got kids in communities
who come to help us plant and harvest, so I don't have
to do anything by myself. And I don't think that
I could do it by myself, given the other job that I have. You know, I can't be
at the garden all day. So fortunately we
have the gardeners. We've got school kids. We have volunteers who come. The chefs -- all the chefs help
with the garden, so every -- it's really everyone's garden,
and that's why it's so beautiful, because everybody
helps make it possible. Thanks for the question. We'll do -- gentleman up
in the front right here. I'm going to go
around one more time. I'm going to go this way, okay? And then this will be the last
question in this section, okay? Audience Member:
My name is Gavin [phonetic],
and I'm eight years old. And my dad works for the USSS. And were you -- how surprised were
you when you came into the White House? Mrs. Obama:
How surprised was I? You know, shocked. I was very surprised because
this is a pretty surprise -- not too many -- I think I
visited the White House once before I lived here, and I went on
a tour just like everybody else did. So I kind of knew what
to expect on this floor, but then you go upstairs
where the President and the President's family lives,
and it was a shock. But it's not a shock anymore. It's just kind of normal. But it took a little
while to get used to, because what would you think if
you woke up and you were living in the White House? Would you be shocked? Audience Member:
Yes. Mrs. Obama:
Yes, pretty shocking. I think that's how I felt. It was like, we're living
in the White House. I look at this stuff all the
time and now I live here. How shocking. And I felt the same way
probably that you would feel. But now we're sort
of used to it. Does that make sense? All right. Okay, we'll switch over here. Last question in this section. It's going to be a girl. I know. (laughter) All right, we got a young
lady right there, second row, white blouse, second row -- second
row facing this way, right here. Audience Member:
My name is Hope Myers [phonetic]
and I'm 12 and my mom works for OMB. My question is -- Mrs. Obama:
Where does she work? Audience Member:
OMB. Mrs. Obama:
Oh. Audience Member:
What is your favorite part
of being the First Lady? Mrs. Obama:
My favorite part of being
First Lady is spending time with kids, really. I tell my staff all the time, if
you could book my whole day with kids, I'd work a lot harder. I really do -- I love spending time -- I love my girls, but I love you guys. I love -- because you're
the future, really. And there's so many -- you're so
open to possibilities and you're not sort of bogged down in
what you knew when you were -- years ago. You guys are funny. You're generally
open and excited. So I love spending
time with kids and I -- that's why I work a lot
on child nutrition issues. That's why I work with
military families, because it's what goes in your
heads and what you have in your hearts that are going
to shape the world. And it's exciting for me to see. So I could stay here all day,
actually, but they won't let me. So that's my favorite part. All right, okay, let's
shift around here. It's going to be a boy,
it's going to be a boy, it's going to be a boy. Okay, young man, white
shirt, who just -- oh, it's just so painful. (laughter) Audience Member:
My name is Reggie [phonetic]. I'm 10 years old. My mom works for the NSS. How surprised were you
when your husband became -- has been elected for -- when
he -- for the President? Mrs. Obama:
It was another shock. Shocking thing. Well, first of all, there has
never been an African American President of the United
States ever, right? Ever. So when I grew up and
when he was growing up, that wasn't something that I
envisioned was even possible, right? And I think a lot of people didn't
believe that it was possible. But I think a lot of people hoped
that it could be possible, right? Because we're a country that's
all about equality, right? That's what my kids say. Equal means equal. That means everybody has the
same opportunities to do whatever they want to do. And I think it's cool when
that actually works on so many different levels, even the
presidency of the United States. So I was excited, and
not just for my husband, but I was excited for us. I was excited for all of you,
because now you all know that anything is possible. It doesn't matter
how old you are, it doesn't matter how big
you are, how small you are. It just matters how hard
you're willing to work, right? That's all that matters. You've got to put
in the work, right, and you've got to be
serious about your goals. And if you do that,
anything is possible. And little things like Barack
Obama being President, I think, sends that message to you
guys in very small ways. And I'll be excited when a woman
becomes President of the United States. And that's going to
happen one day, as well. And that will be exciting and
shocking for the very same reasons. All right? Thanks. Okay, our last question. It's going to be a girl,
it's going to be a girl. I know, it's just --
trying to keep it balanced. All right, on this end there's a
little hand right there in a dark shirt. Yeah, you, you,
yes, please stand. You are the last question. Audience Member:
My name is Adin [phonetic]
and I'm 10 years old. My dad works for the CEA. And my question is, what's
your favorite book and why? Mrs. Obama:
Oh, man, you guys are tough. All right, okay, there are
kids books that I enjoy, everything from "Goodnight,
Moon" -- do you guys -- have your parents read
"Goodnight, Moon" to you, guys? "Where the Wild Things
Are" -- we just read -- the girls read that at
the Easter Egg Roll. So I have a ton of those books. One of the books that I loved
-- one of the first books that I loved and read cover
to cover in one day -- not because anybody made me read
it but because the book was good -- it was called -- it was a
book called "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison. And that book helped
me love reading, because before then reading was
kind of like something you did when you had to do it. But that book, it like grabbed
me and pulled me in and I just kept reading and kept reading. And any book that
does that for me -- do you feel that way when you
get a book and you just can't put it down, whether it's a
mystery or one of the gossip things like "Camp Confidential"? Who reads "Camp Confidential"? Sasha is loving those books. I think those are just -- they
just suck her in and she can't put it down. So those books are
my favorite books. And there are many, many other
books that I've read like that over the years, but "Song of
Solomon" was my first one. What about you? What's your favorite book? Audience Member:
"Harry Potter." Mrs. Obama:
"Harry Potter" -- oh, yeah,
well, there's "Harry Potter." You know what, I didn't read
"Harry Potter" books because that was something Malia
and her dad did together, and I kind of
stayed out of that. So they read -- they've read
every "Harry Potter" book cover to cover, both of them. They read it together. And they loved those books, too. They both do. Well, I think I have to go. Yeah, I know. I don't want to go. But I think you guys have
a pretty busy schedule. I think there are some lunch
opportunities and some other stuff that you're going to see. But I just want to take the time to
tell you all, first of all, thank you. Thank you for asking
such good questions. Thanks for taking the time to
come and learn more about what your parents do. And thank you for
being so patient. You know why I say patient? It's because I know your parents
work hard and they're working hard for the President and
they're working hard for the country, and I know that
sometimes that means that you guys don't get to do everything
you want to do with your parents. I mean, Malia and
Sasha are the same way. When you have parents who
are working for service, sometimes you guys
sacrifice, right? Sometimes they miss
your games, right? Sometimes they can't help you
with that project because they've got a meeting. Sometimes they miss a birthday
because they had to travel, right? I know all of you have
experienced that and sometimes it's frustrating, right? And you figure, why do I have to
share my parent with anybody ever? And my girls feel that
way sometimes, too. But it's important for you to
know that your parents are doing this to help make life better
for you and for millions of other kids not just here in the
United States but around the country. So they're doing really important
stuff when they're not with you. Because, listen, there is
nothing that your parents want more than to spend
every minute with you. I know that because that's
how I feel about my girls. So don't ever think that they
don't care about you because they're busy at work. They're doing it for you. All right? So thank you for being patient. And keep studying hard. You got out of school today, but
I hope everybody is keeping up with the assignment they missed
today and you're going to do your homework, maybe even write
a paper about what you did here to show your teachers that
you weren't just goofing off. Can I get -- how about that? Yeah -- (laughter) I want you to eat your
vegetables -- yes? Audience:
Yes. Mrs. Obama:
I want you to exercise. Audience:
Yes. Mrs. Obama:
And exercising is anything. It is dancing. It's playing with your dog. It's being outside. I want you all to
turn off the TV. Turn it off. Audience Member:
No! Mrs. Obama:
Yes! Yes! Turn it off -- some of the
time, some of the time. Make a deal with your parents to
turn it off some of the time. Can we get that -- come on, come
on, let's just strike a deal. I want you to read a book. Read some books! Yeah, reading some books. So we're striking a
deal in this room. It's between me and you guys,
right, because if you do that, you will be better people. You will! You will one day be President
of the United States. You'll be who your parents
and your grandparents are. You can do that. But you've got to do all
the other stuff first. All right? All right, thank you guys. (applause)
