Interview with Jenna Bush Hager of NBC's "Today"

THE PRESIDENT: That's the stuff you're going to remember is taking them to the park and pushing them on a swing and hearing them laugh. That's going to be what's most precious in your life, and you just want to make sure you don't miss out on that.

HAGER: Let's talk about My Brother's Keeper. It's an initiative that you said gets to the very heart of why you ran for president. Why is it so important?

THE PRESIDENT: The truth is is that a lot of young men of color aren't doing well, partly because they don't have dads in their lives, partly because they don't have networks of support. It's important to me partly because, you know, I grew up without a dad, and I know that I went through my own struggles.

HAGER: You talked about the cycle, but you've broken the cycle for your own family.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

HAGER: You tweeted last Father's Day -- I believe it was your first tweet --

THE PRESIDENT: [laughs]

HAGER: -- I try every day for Michelle and my girls to be what my father wasn't for my mother and me.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

HAGER: Does this -- I mean, the fact that you didn't have a dad --

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

HAGER: -- has it changed your life as a father yourself?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, you know, I -- I made a decision in young adulthood that it was going to be important for me to make sure that I was there for my kids. I've really tried to make sure that I didn't miss parent-teacher conferences, that I didn't miss the ballet recitals or the soccer games. I tried to be disciplined about, if I'm in town, being home for dinner every single night. And I think it's made a difference.

You know, the one thing the girls know about me is I love them to death.

HAGER: How do you think your girls would describe you?

THE PRESIDENT: I think they would say that I am a good, fun dad who teeters on the edge of being embarrassing sometimes. You know, we set, you know, some pretty firm rules early on in their lives about cleaning up after themselves and making their beds and waking up on time.

HAGER: Even here.

THE PRESIDENT: Even here. They've got their acts together. And we really don't have to check on their homework or nag them too much about stuff. They handle their business. So we're really proud of them.

HAGER: But regardless, you're raising, as you said, a now 13-year-old --

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

HAGER: -- which is hard to believe --

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

HAGER: -- and almost a 16-year-old --

THE PRESIDENT: Soon to be 16-year-old.

HAGER: -- in the public eye. What is harder, being -- and I think my dad would maybe have a comment on this -- but being a protective father of teenagers or president of the United States? [laughs]

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as you know from experience -- and you may have chafed under this a little bit -- they do have a Secret Service detail, which I've joked the main reason I ran for reelection was to sustain that all the way through their high school years.

You know, I don't worry too much about their social lives. They've got their heads on straight. They're strong, confident young ladies.

HAGER: They are growing up in a place I once called home. And my sister Barbara and I gave Sasha and Malia a tour when their father became president.

I actually met them in this very room when your wife brought them here to tour their new home.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

HAGER: And I taught them how to slide down the banister.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

HAGER: So you can thank me later.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I very much appreciate that. They have not broken any bones, thanks to those lessons that you gave.

HAGER: Yeah, I taught them the proper way, right?

THE PRESIDENT: [laughs]

HAGER: Safety first in this house.

THE PRESIDENT: That's exactly right.

HAGER: And on Inauguration Day 2009, the passing of the torch and words of advice from my sister Barbara and me about the privilege of living in the White House.

One of the things we said is to enjoy every minute.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

HAGER: You know, you're living history.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

HAGER: And I think it seems overwhelming at first.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

HAGER: But are they enjoying their life here?

THE PRESIDENT: What's been great is the fact that they've been able to have a pretty normal life. They've got great friends. They've got sleepovers here. They go over to their friends' house to sleep over. They go to the mall. And what I've been really proud of is the fact that they haven't gotten an attitude. They don't take this for granted.

HAGER: Finally, the main point of that letter was to, you know, ignore the polls --

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

HAGER: -- ignore the critics --

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

HAGER: -- and know who their dad really is.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

HAGER: And I know that for Barbara and me it was hard --

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

HAGER: -- to listen to people criticize our dear dad.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

HAGER: Can they stay away from that? Do they -- or do they take the criticism to heart?

THE PRESIDENT: They don't really feel deeply burdened by some of the chatter in the news, because it's really not part of their lives. But I'm sure that the letter you wrote, you and Barbara wrote, and the example you guys set sure helped them a lot. And Chelsea Clinton, you know, had dinner with Malia one time, which was really generous.

You guys are a fairly exclusive club of people who had to put up with this nonsense and turned out to be just amazing young women. So it makes me a little more confident and optimistic about how things can turn out.