Barack and Michelle Obama: Why We Won't Let Our Daughter Sasha Go On Facebook

The 12-year-old "isn't old enough" to be allowed on social media her parents say

Photo: Pete Souza/White House/Getty

It’s a question a lot of parents of teens and preteens struggle with: how much access should their kids get to sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram?

President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, told Barbara Walters in a sit-down interview on ABC’s 20/20 on Friday that while their oldest daughter, Malia, 15, has limited access to Facebook, her little sister, Sasha, 12, isn’t old enough for that.

“I still am not a big believer in Facebook for young people … particularly for them, because they’re in the public eye,” the first lady said. “Some of it’s stuff they don’t need to see and be a part of … So we try to protect them from too much of the public voice.”

Malia, who’s a sophomore, is allowed to date now, her parents revealed, but they wouldn’t say if she’s seeing anyone special.

And as for Sasha – whose bold fashion choices are leading to Kate Middleton-like rushes on stores – the Obamas say their youngest will have a say in the family’s post-White House life.

Malia will be in college, but Sasha will be a sophomore in high school when the president’s second term ends in 2017, and her parents are weighing whether to stay in Washington D.C. so that she can finish school there, or move back home to Chicago.

“Sasha will have a big vote,” the president admitted, acknowledging that his family has “made a lot of sacrifices on behalf of my cockamamie ideas, the running for office and things.”