How did the Obamas balance the need to protect their daughters' safety with the desire to allow them to become independent?

Malia and Sasha Obama were young children when their father was elected president. How did the Obamas balance the need to protect their daughters' safety with the desire to allow them to grow and become independent? 

How do you handle the pressures of the outside world with the children in your life?

I think they followed the lead of their mothers. Both mothers allowed Michelle and Barack to make their own choices while ensuring their safety and loving them fiercely.

The care and thought that went into everything that had to do with the daughters is very touching. Michelle was "on it" from the time that they realized they would be in the White House. I felt that she thought through everything about their days and set them up carefully for success.
The success that Michelle has with raising her daughters was one of the most impressive features of her book. It was all wisely planned out, nothing was just left to chance.

I think she did an excellent job considering how difficult it is for the first family to exist while being constantly in the public eye. Having her mother come and live with them was a wonderful idea. Michelle has followed the wise example of Mrs. Robinson. Her description of the restrictions placed on those who live in the WH was very interesting and eye opening to me.

Although the children of the president have to be protected, the girls were still allowed to go out and participate in normal activities as much as they could. I agree, it was helpful and good for the family to have their grandmother with them.

I admired so much the parental attitude on the part of both of them to make sure the girls had as much freedom as possible to be normal children, even with Secret Service people lurking. The prom story, the college visits, the ice cream runs as just several instances where realistic compromise allowed them to interact with friends with ease

I agree with all the comments above. The grandmothers contributed so much, each in her own way. And Michelle put her daughters as her first priority and put a lot of thought into what they should be encouraged to do. Also, I think her fun-loving spirit helped her to figure out ways to make her daughters' lives fun even with all the Security Service presence.

The Obamas put a lot of thought into how their daughters could have a 'normal' life amidst heavy security. Michelle proactively sought out parents of friends and events in advance, so the girls could move about a little more freely. She also worked with her staff to come to a middle ground on some activities that the girls wanted to attend. I really liked that she knew when to step out of an event to reduce the level of security that her presence required.

I think having her mother live with them was a strong influence. She also sought out as many activities she could for normalization, it was interesting to read how the girls got to think of the security guards as friends.

She took reasonable precautions for their safety while allowing them as many normal experiences as possible. They also allowed their daughters to have experiences without them so that it wouldn't end up being about the famous parents. I admired her for letting her daughter do the college visit without her so it would be more normal.