Big Concern and #1 Question to President Obama from Malia Obama

Filed under: Celebrity News, News, Lynnette Khalfani-Cox

Is Malia Obama a budding animal activist? Could be, based on comments from her mom.

First Lady Michelle Obama recently revealed that the single most common question posed to President Obama by his daughter, Malia, age 10, is: What is he doing to help tigers?

As it turns out, Malia and the whole Obama family are sweet on tigers, which are an endangered species. So the family discusses tigers at least once a week – mainly because Malia asks President Barack Obama about them frequently.

“He tells her he’s working on it and there are a lot of people who are thinking about it,” Michelle Obama said. “But I think, the Obama household, we’re trying to save the tigers.”

The First Lady made the comments during an hour-long question and answer session for the children of executive office employees who visited the White House on Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

As a mother of three, I love to see children like Malia Obama becoming interested at such an early age in topics that will affect their lives and our world. In Malia’s case, she’s apparently curious about saving or protecting endangered animals. Other kids may be into saving the environment, helping the homeless, or ensuring the rights of children.

When young people are as precocious as Malia Obama, we should encourage their intellectual curiosity and not shut it down. Too often, as adults, we have the idea that “children should be seen and not heard.” So we discourage young people from talking about or delving into weighty issues.

But whether it’s touchy political matters, civic causes, notions about social justice, or even thorny economic topics, think of the benefits to the next generation if conscientious adults encouraged the children in our lives to explore these areas – and gave kids the freedom to try to solve the problems inherent in these weighty topics.

What are your thoughts? Are there some social, civic, economic, political or global subjects that kids just shouldn’t learn about or talk about at an early age? Or should nothing be off limits?

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