In a new interview this week, former First Lady Michelle Obama opened up about what family dinners are really like in her household as both her husband and their two daughters are home amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have our health and we are together as a family,” Michelle told Entertainment Tonight. “And we’re not getting on each other’s nerves, so we count our blessings. We try to eat dinner together as a family every night. That’s a pretty important ritual, so we usually have dinner at about 6:30, that’s pretty regularly, and we have different kinds of foods.”

“Pizza is on the list, it’s one of the favorites, but it’s pretty balanced,” she continued. “We usually try to have a delicious protein and a vegetable. And then depending upon what I’m trying to accomplish — for me, personally, I may not have a carb — but then there’s my husband, who needs lots of food, eats tons of carbs. So we try to make sure it’s balanced.”

Michelle went on to say that the most important thing “is that we eat together.”

“That’s an important time for us to catch up. Even in quarantine, when we would be apart all day in separate rooms, it was just a good way to check in, to see each other, to ask how our days were going even though nothing was going on,” she explained.

“We’ve had that ritual for our entire lives. Even in the White House, I read about how the president, no matter how busy he was, he would stop his day and make sure we could have dinner together as a family,’ the former First Lady added.

Michelle then said that her new Netflix children’s show “Waffles + Mochi” encourages other families to eat together as well.

“I knew I wanted to find a way to continue the conversation about healthy eating and movement, and ‘Waffles + Mochi’ does it in a fun and creative way,” Michelle said of how the she came to be. “We’re still working with The Partnership for a Healthier America. Not just to talk about eating well and trying new things, but we’re working to raise money to feed one million families that are going hungry right here in the United States.”

“So ‘Waffles + Mochi” isn’t just about fun and learning; it’s about doing something good in the world,” she added. “I remember when my kids were little, there wasn’t a lot of TV that I wanted to watch with them. There was a lot of great kids TV, but to have a show that I thought was funny and that was entertaining for them, that was exciting, that took you around the world, that would teach them about experiencing different kind of foods. This is exactly the kind of show I would have wanted.”

The former First Lady confessed that she sometimes watches the show even without her kids “because it is hilarious.”

“There’s always a lesson that Waffles and Mochi bring back to me from their adventures,” Michelle said. “[Lessons] that hopefully spark some conversation at homes around the world.”

This piece was written by Mark Baker on March 15, 2021. It originally appeared in UpliftingToday and is used by permission.

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