--- title: Barack Obama: I Was 'Crybaby' on Malia's First Day of Senior Year description: Obama says he "was a little freaked out" on Malia's first day of senior year canonical: https://time.com/4029210/barack-obama-malia/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-10T13:54:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:48.728Z og:title: Obama Says Malia's First Day of Senior Year Turned Him Into a 'Crybaby' og:description: "I was a little freaked out." og:url: https://time.com/4029210/barack-obama-malia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf92ede02f31eb573/698862fb0b72e30c3e6e5c0e/barack-obama-malia-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1737 og:image:height: 977 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama and his daughter Malia walk across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Aug. 23, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Says Malia's First Day of Senior Year Turned Him Into a 'Crybaby' twitter:description: "I was a little freaked out." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf92ede02f31eb573/698862fb0b72e30c3e6e5c0e/barack-obama-malia-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Admits Shedding a Tear on Malia's First Day of Senior Year > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=11696eda-b791-40e0-a1d2-dd4bcf57eb3a&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Daily | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Richard Hall, Editor | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership The informed consumer. A scaled audience of readers who turn to TIME to stay informed and make sense of the world, with meaningful reach across education and research, nonprofits and civic life, media and communications, government and public institutions, and business and professional services. ### TIME The Brief: key statements * The Brief is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * The Brief is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=11696eda-b791-40e0-a1d2-dd4bcf57eb3a&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/subscribe?i=11696eda-b791-40e0-a1d2-dd4bcf57eb3a&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is TIME's daily news newsletter? The Brief is TIME's daily newsletter, edited by Richard Hall. It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=11696eda-b791-40e0-a1d2-dd4bcf57eb3a&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Working Families: What Obama Loves About Being President [Watch (HLS stream): Working Families: What Obama Loves About Being President](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ngyIuFm2.m3u8) (1:14)  _Published 2014-06-23_ by [Nicole Sands / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Nicole Sands / People Contributor Sep 10, 2015 1:54 PM UTC  President Barack Obama and his daughter Malia walk across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Aug. 23, 2015. President Barack Obama and his daughter Malia walk across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Aug. 23, 2015. Carolyn Kaster—AP by [Nicole Sands / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Nicole Sands / People Contributor Sep 10, 2015 1:54 PM UTC [President Barack Obama’s](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:BarackObama,00.html) visit to a Michigan college really hit home on Wednesday, reminding him that his eldest daughter will soon be [leaving the White House](http://www.people.com/article/michelle-obama-sasha-malia-growing-up-college) to start a college career of her own. “Just yesterday, Malia started her first day of senior year. You know, I was sitting in her room because I was going to see her off her first day of school,” Obama said in a speech at Maycomb County Community College in Warren, Michigan, where he promoted his plans for free community college. “She puts her head on my shoulder and she says, ‘Daddy, you know, you realize this is probably going to be the last time that you ever send me off for my first day of school.'” While [Malia’s](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:MaliaObama,00.html) choice of school is still unknown, the 17-year-old has been busy at work touring some of the Country’s most elite Ivy Leagues, such as Harvard, Tufts, Yale and Stanford, where she may go into the field of filmmaking or television production. As the audience “awwed” the President continued, “And I started – I had to look away. I didn’t want to just be such a crybaby. It makes no sense. Michelle and I are way too young to have daughters who are both almost in college now. So as a parent, I was a little freaked out.” “The truth is the girls are wonderful,” [the family man](http://www.people.com/article/president-barack-obama-malia-sasha-new-york-city) told [_Extra_](http://extratv.com/videos/0%5Fka8p8c8q) in June, praising Malia and his youngest daughter, [Sasha](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:SashaObama,00.html). “You know they work hard, they work a lot harder than I ever did when I was a kid.” He added, “Most importantly, they’re kind, they’re respectful, they don’t have an attitude,” he said. “Partly because maybe my mother-in-law was here, you know we say we don’t want to see any attitude out of them. And they’ve been terrific.” _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/president-obama-emotional-speech-malia-college) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com) ### Photos: How Presidents Take Vacation  Obama tends to take a winter break in Hawaii, where he was born and raised, and a summer vacation in Martha's Vineyard. In between, he plays basketball and has been known to do some skeet shooting at Camp David. His favorite pastime, no matter the location, has become easy to spot: golf. Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images  Fishing is in the Bush family DNA: for blues off the coast of Maine or anything with fins, almost anywhere else. George W. Bush relaxed as president by jogging and clearing brush on his Texas ranch near Waco. Since leaving office, he has become an avid mountain biker and, more recently, has taken up painting. Charles Ommanney—Getty Images  Clinton was never much good at vacationing. His staff had to practically force him to go on vacation his first year in office; his idea of relaxing was reading books while enjoying a cigar (chewed, not smoked). He sometimes played golf, but his somewhat elastic interpretation of the rules could drive his partners crazy. Bob McNeely—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Vice President George Bush tries to catch a fish in August, 1983 in Kennebunkport, Maine. The small town would sometimes be clogged with traffic when Bush, as Vice President and later as President, would visit, reporters in tow. Cynthia Johnson—Getty Images  "There is nothing so good for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse." That's what Nancy Reagan liked to say about why her husband often liked to go horseback riding while on vacation as his ranch near Santa Barbara, California. Above, the 'horse' was a riding mower. Reagan Foundation  President Ford and First Lady Betty chose Mauna Kea Beach, Hawaii on the Big Island for a getaway vacation in 1974, but they couldn’t escape the prying eyes of the press. Here, the president, a former All American football player at Michigan, turned his movie camera on a familiar photographer. David Hume Kennerly—Getty Images  Johnson preferred his 2,700 acre Texas Hill country ranch to posh resorts, and he hosted guests there year-round. He owned 400 head of cattle and delighted in playing cowboy for visiting dignitaries. He also took guests for a ride in his tricked out amphibious car, surprising them by turning off road and into a pond. Bettmann/Corbis  Johnson relaxes in his pool with his grandson Lyn and the First Family's new dog, Yuki, in 1968. Yoichi Okamoto—Corbis  JFK began competitive sailing in his youth. The president often snuck away for a bit of solitude on the Honey Fitz, his 92-foot power yacht on the Potomac. But being a talented sailor, his favorite was the Manitou, a 62-foot sailing yacht he first spotted as a young senator. Robert Leroy Knudsen—National Archives  In 1928, Calvin and Grace Coolidge spent their last presidential Thanksgiving at a beautiful Italianate villa, the Swannanoa Country Club, near Rockfish Gap on the summit of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia. The palatial mansion reportedly pleased the first lady. AP  FDR's polio limited his vacation options. He began visiting Warm Springs, Georgia in 1924 for its curative waters and later built a 2000 acre polio treatment center nearby. He liked to cruise the Potomac on the presidential yacht and three times as President returned to Campobello, in New Brunswick, Canada. Bettmann/Corbis  Clinton, his daughter Chelsea, center, and wife Hillary walk with Buddy from the White House toward a helicopter as they depart for vacation en route to Martha's Vineyard, Mass. Robert A. Reeder—The Washington Post/Getty Images ## Transcript People ask me what do I love most about being President. And, you know it's, it's true Air Force One is on the list. [ LAUGH ] The Truman Balcony is a really nice view. [ LAUGH ] But, but one of I was telling folks the other day that, one of the best perks of being President is that anyone will hand you their baby. [ LAUGH ] They, here! So I get this baby fix, like, two or three times a week. [ LAUGH ] but but the reason it's so powerful is because I remember taking the night shift when Malia was born and when Sasha was born. And being up at, at two in the morning and, and changing diapers and, burping them, and and, and, and singing to them. And, and reading them stories, and and, and watching Sports Center once in a while. [ LAUGH ] which, I thought was good for their development. [ LAUGH ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4029210/barack-obama-malia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4029210/barack-obama-malia/"},"headline":"Obama Admits Shedding a Tear on Malia's First Day of Senior Year","datePublished":"2015-09-10T13:54:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:48.728Z","description":"\"I didn’t want to just be such a crybaby.\"","url":"https://time.com/4029210/barack-obama-malia/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Barack Obama","Family","malia obama","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf92ede02f31eb573/698862fb0b72e30c3e6e5c0e/barack-obama-malia-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nicole Sands / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf92ede02f31eb573/698862fb0b72e30c3e6e5c0e/barack-obama-malia-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama and his daughter Malia walk across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Aug. 23, 2015.","caption":"President Barack Obama and his daughter Malia walk across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Aug. 23, 2015.","creditText":"Carolyn Kaster—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4029210/barack-obama-malia/","name":"Obama Admits Shedding a Tear on Malia's First Day of Senior Year"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Working Families: What Obama Loves About Being President","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ngyIuFm2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-06-23T19:29:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ngyIuFm2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4029210/barack-obama-malia/","duration":"PT1M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4029210/barack-obama-malia/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```