Question: I’m Daniel, I’m from the National Wildlife Federation. We were
wondering about the fact that some kids would like to have gardens in
their houses, but they don’t have space outside, they don’t have yards,
or they live in apartment buildings, so what would you give as advice to
those kids?

Michelle Obama: Well, there are many types of gardens. Some are planted
in the backyard, and you need space for it, but many people plant in
boxes. There are a number of urban gardens where people are planting in
their backyards and on their porches and on the rooftops of building.
Many schools are planting gardens and they don’t have any green space at
all. So, you see, in our garden, there are beds, and you create the
beds from wood and boxes, and you just put enough dirt in them. You just
make them high enough to put the dirt in. You can do it on your back
porch. You can do it in a pot in your kitchen.

So, the important thing for kids to know is that you don’t need a big
backyard and a lot of land to plant a garden. You just need the right
kind of conditions and make sure that you’re getting the right amount of
sun and water for the type of things that you want to plant.

Who’s next?

Question: I’m Alexandra for Scholastic. What impact has ["Let's Move!"] had on the nation, especially the lifestyle of kids?

Michelle Obama: The most important thing that we’re doing, is getting
people and kids around the country to talk about the issue of nutrition.
I think there are more and more kids who are asking questions. The fact
that you all are here covering this is one of the successes of “Let’s
Move!” There are kids in kids’ magazines who are paying attention and
thinking about what they’re eating, and asking how they can plant
gardens and get involved, and get their schools involved.

One of the most important things we’ve done is to help get legislation
passed in Congress to improve the quality of food in public schools.
Because you can eat really well at home, but if you have to eat a couple
of your meals at school and they’re not healthy…that’s not gonna help,
right? So, Congress passed some legislation to improve the quality of
food in schools and they hadn’t done that in many, many years. So that’s
one of the successes of “Let’s Move!” this year.

Question: I’m Gabe, from Time for Kids. What advice do you have for
families who find it difficult to prepare or even afford or fresh food?

Michelle Obama: My advice would be to keep it simple. There are many
families and communities who don’t have access to fresh food and fresh
produce. One of the things we’re trying to do with “Let’s Move!” is to
work with the leaders of cities and mayors of towns to try and do
something about that. But, if there’s a family that doesn’t have access,
I’d say… If you can’t buy fresh produce, look at buying something
frozen. It would even be good to have some canned vegetables. But what
families should think about doing is making sure that there’s one
vegetable with every meal, and maybe even some fruit if possible.

But there are other things families can do to be healthier. They can not
have so many sugary drinks. Instead, they can drink water. Water is
always the best option to drink. Milk is good, but if you can’t afford
milk, then there’s always water in the faucet. And that’s what your body
needs.

And also, think about making desserts a sometime treat. You know, you
don’t have to have desserts every night. What we do at my house is have
desserts on the weekends. So then it’s really special, and weekends are
really exciting, because they can eat dessert and a fun snack. There are
a lot of things families can do, even without the resources. But I
think it’s up to us, as a country, to make sure that every family and
every community can afford to buy, and have access to fresh fruit.
That’s an issue that we have to work on as a nation.

Michelle Obama: Are we going around again?

Helen: What are your family’s favorite fruits and vegetables from your garden?

Michelle Obama: You know, the girls like spinach and broccoli, so those
are the favorites. The President loves broccoli. He’s a big broccoli
eater. He and I and Sasha like snow peas. Malia doesn’t like snow peas
very much.

We like all kids of fruits. The berries are pretty good. A lot of the
stuff we eat, like fresh oranges and apples, we can’t get from the
garden. We like blueberry pie, and getting some good berries for a pie
is a pretty good deal.

Question: Is there a set amount of time that Sasha and Malia have for electronics like TV?

Michelle Obama: Absolutely. We have limits on TV and electronic
time–Nothing during the week. It’s all homework, all the time. We have
ways that they can earn time during the week. If they do certain things,
they can earn a little time. If they exercise on their own, or if they
do all their chores without being told, they can earn an hour.

On the weekends, it’s limited to 2 hours on Friday, 3 hours on Saturday
(Saturday’s the big day) and then 2 hours, if all homework is done by
Sunday. They get some time over the weekend, but we try to keep them
busy so that they don’t even use that time. So, we do limit the time.

Question: Can you share some of the advice you give to your daughters about staying healthy?

Michelle Obama: Some kids just don’t like vegetables. Some kids just
don’t like the bitter taste of vegetables. And that’s an obstacle,
because if vegetables tasted like ice cream, I don’t think we’d have a
problem, right? What I try to encourage my kids to do is to try
everything. Our rule at our table is that if you’re not hungry, you have
to finish your vegetables. That’s the only thing you really have to
eat. So, if they don’t want to finish their meat or don’t want as much
rice, I’d rather have them just eat their vegetables.

The thing that kids should know is that the more that they try different
vegetables, the more they’ll get used to the taste. The problem is that
if kids never try different vegetables, their taste buds never mature.
So, the more different things that you try, the more you’ll grow to like
different tastes. I would urge to kids to try and make sure they’re
eating a vegetable at every meal, and just to make sure they’re giving
it a try.

Try interesting tricks. Like, salads are really good when you mix them
up with other things that are healthy and good. Like, putting raisins in
a salad makes it taste sweeter.
Croutons are good, certain cheeses, strawberries, fruits, blue cheese… A
salad can be anything that you like that’s healthy. There are a lot of
great things that are tasty and healthy. Nuts, if you like peanuts, or
sunflower seeds-when you mix it up with a dressing you like (but not too
much of it), the whole thing tastes good! That’s why kids should
experiment and try new things, and not be afraid to try something new.

Question: Do you think schools should ban bake sales, birthday cupcakes, and pizza? Why or why not?

Michelle Obama: Absolutely not. I don’t think anything like that needs
to be banned. Cupcakes and cookies, when eaten within reason are not bad
for you. If that’s all kids eat all day, every day–that’s when it’s
bad! A bake sale, dessert–those are special treats. And being healthy
isn’t about eliminating all the fun stuff. The fun stuff is what makes
life worth living, right? What would the world be like with no ice
cream, no cupcakes, no French fries, and no hot dogs!

Reporter:  I’d probably jump off a cliff!

Michelle Obama: We all would. It’s all about moderation. That’s what I
tell my kids at my house. It’s important that my kids eat healthy most
of the time. So if they’re getting a healthy breakfast, a healthy lunch,
and a healthy dinner most days, then when the bake sale comes, they can
eat what they want! When the birthday party shows up, have a piece of
cake and some ice cream, because that won’t kill you. Especially if
you’re moving, right?

There’s nothing wrong with fun, tasty, exciting foods, as long as you
don’t have them all the time. The trouble is that sometimes in our
society is that for some people, “sometimes foods” become “all the time
foods!” So, it flips. There are some people who don’t eat any
vegetables, and they eat burgers and fries and cupcakes every single
day. That’s not good either, right? It’s about balance. Does that make
sense?

Helen: Like today, this guy in my class brought in low-fat little Shamrocks made of Jell-o.

Michelle Obama: And how did they taste?

Helen: They were really good.

Michelle Obama: They were really good. There’s a lot of great stuff that’s fun to eat that is healthy!

Helen: And they were homemade!

Michelle Obama: They were homemade! That’s even better! That’s the other
point to make. A lot of things that are home made are healthier than
store bought.

Helen: Because you know what the ingredients are and how much you put in.

Michelle Obama: Absolutely.

Helen: And that’s what my mom is doing for Lent. She’s cooking more home cooked meals instead of going out for dinner.

Michelle Obama: Well, that’s another suggestion for families. Another
thing you can do is look at how you prepare food. Baking something, or
sautéing it in olive oil is much healthier than frying. There’s nothing
wrong with chicken, but it’s better if it’s baked chicken. Baked chicken
is really good! There’s nothing wrong with French fries once in a
while, but a baked potato is better than French fries.

Reporter’s comment: In our family, we’re only allowed to eat out once every two months.

Reporter’s commment: My family always makes sure that we have to have vegetables on our plate – like half of our plate.

Reporter’s comment: My family has to have 5 fruits and vegetables every single day.

Reporter’s comment: At school, my sister [and I], we bring our lunch,
and we have to bring a fruit and vegetable, like an orange or an apple,
and we’re supposed to eat it. We’ll bring a fruit cup and we’ll eat it.

Michelle Obama: And it’s so important for you all to share the rules in
your house. Because “Let’s Move!”, the campaign that we’re doing, is
about getting people information. You’re lucky enough to have parents,
to live in a community where people know the importance of this. But
there are some communities where people have grown up thinking, “A
vegetable–ah, you don’t really need it. A vegetable is boring!” And we
have to share the information so that everybody can make good decisions
and create good rules and routines and traditions in their houses.

Reporter’s comment: Make vegetables sort of fun…

Michelle Obama: That’s right. Make it fun, and know that they’re
important! This is why what you guys are doing is so good. And it sounds
like your parents are really on top of things, and that’s what we want.
We want to help you guys to educate other kids and families, so that
they can do some of the things that you’re doing.

First Lady Michelle Obama invited local school children to the White House Wednesday afternoon to plant vegetables in the White House Kitchen Garden. Students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, D.C., their teachers, White House staff, and employees from the National Park Service helped Mrs. Obama plant seedlings and seeds in raised beds on the White House South Lawn.

Photographs by Helen O., National Geographic Kids

Mrs. Obama thanked the students for helping, and then everyone loosened
the pots, dug holes, and planted hundreds of plants and seeds.

(Here I am in front of the garden!)

  The Kitchen Garden

After
the plants were in the ground, everyone took turns watering the plants
with watering cans. While Mrs. Obama participated in a group photo with
the school children, four kid reporters, including me, walked to the
Children’s Garden to interview Mrs. Obama.

See the 2011 garden plan: White House Spring Vegetable Garden

Read about the roundtable discussion that four kid reporters had with Mrs. Obama.