By Amy DiLuna
Today Show

She’s the wife of the leader of the free world, and on the day TODAY.com sat with her, she squeezed a conversation between three engagements in as many hours.

But Michelle Obama, first lady, activist, female face of the nation and parent to Sasha, 10 and Malia, 13, has one concern at the top of her mind: “Like any mother, I’m just hoping I don’t mess them up.”

Slideshow: Sasha Obama’s life in the spotlight

Sound familiar?

“That’s all we’re living to do. It’s like, at the end of the day, I find myself checking with friends: ‘How did the girls seem?’ And they’ll say, ‘No, they’re the same kids. They’re the same girls.’ I’m like, ‘OK, good. Just tell me if you see anything. Just let me know.’ ”

So far, so good. “They’re good,” she said. “That’s why the president and I are so happy. Even when times are tough, in the end you are as happy as your least happy child.

Slideshow: Malia Obama turns 13 — a life in the limelight

“When your kids are healthy, your dog is healthy, you find that you sleep a little bit better.”

The first lady was speaking Monday to a panel of digital journalists in the first-ever roundtable of its kind. All were writers from prominent sites, and all were wondering: What does it take to raise two kids in the White House?

First, as their mother warned her staff, the girls are not to be treated like “little princesses.” Malia does her own laundry, and they clean their own rooms. “We fight for their normalcy,” the first lady said. “We’re living in a place that’s not used to kids.”

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