What life lessons have Michelle's parents taught her and how she used them?

    Reading Michelle Obama’s biography, one can see how her parents and their parenting style influenced her life. She learned from her parents to work hard, laugh things off, think for herself and use her voice; she used these lessons to learn to play the piano, graduate from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and stand up for herself when she was as a student and an employee.

    Michelle learned from her parents to work hard. When she was about four years old, she decided she wanted to learn piano. She didn’t have the piano and she practiced downstairs on Robbie’s upright piano waiting until nobody else was having a lesson. Practicing a lot she realized correlation between how long she she practiced and how much she achieved (page 11). When Michelle was a freshman at Princeton University she signed up for a 300-level theology class and to have a good grade she pulled out all the stops on her final paper (page 78).

    Her father taught her to laugh often and she mentioned an instance when she was the First Lady and the US Congressman made fun of her ass and she tried to laugh it off. She smiled when she heard that someone questioned about her on the Internet, right down to whether she is a woman or a man.(preface page 10).

    Michelle mentioned several life episodes where she needed to stand up for herself. One of them was when she faced a problem with a girl named DeeDee and decided to earn her respect using power. She said: "I summoned everything my dad has taught me about how to throw a punch" (page 24).

    Her parents emphasized the importance of using proper diction and helped her and her brother by buying a dictionary and a full Encyclopedia Britannica set (page 40). They talked to her like she was an adult, offering guidelines rather than rules. They listened to her issues but never made a decision for her. They trusted her and she learned to stick to her word (page25). All of that helped her to think for herself. She was not afraid to use her voice in the high school and proved a college counselor wrong that she got accepted into Princeton. While there, trusting herself helped her stay on track and earn the best grades (page 79).

    Her parents gave her a really good foundation for her future. They treated her with consistent unconditional love and acceptance. This helped her develop a confident personality. She then was able to work hard and achieve her goals.