No, Michelle Obama, the Nuclear Family is Not a New Idea

by Paul Batura | May 16, 2025 | Family

Former first lady Michelle Obama has been out of the White House for eight years and keeps a relatively full schedule, including hosting a podcast with her brother, Craig Robinson.

“IMO” – which stands for “In My Opinion” – launched this past March. This podcast is her third. The show promises to answer “your real questions about life and everyday challenges you are facing.”

This past week, Mrs. Obama and her brother fielded a question from a woman named Shira who explained how she and her husband, along with their two young children, moved from New York City to Maine to escape the metaphorical city rat race. Now, several years into the new arrangement, the couple is missing the urban community they had developed.

“What guiding principles should we use when deciding where to set up our family for the greatest ability and success?” she asked the hosts. Here is how Michelle Obama responded:

I literally talk about this a couple of times a month with young people who are trying to figure out how to build a life. So, it’s one of the reasons why I was excited about this, because I know there are a lot of people who are grappling with this. But Barack and I have talked about this because he sent us an article.
It talked about how unusual the concept of the nuclear family is. I don’t know if you guys read that article, but it’s like, that is a concept. The concept of two parents and children building their lives together is a relatively new concept to this generation.
That it isn’t really how we were designed to be because we’re kind of pack animals. We live in community in ways that I think are more foreign to couples now, because a lot of young couples are thinking about, “How do I make it on my own? I moved away, I don’t have support.”

Mrs. Obama’s response is a curious one, but perhaps endemic of modern-day liberals who are woefully ignorant when it comes to history and especially the origin of the family.

As Focus on the Family’s Glenn Stanton has noted on numerous occasions, the nuclear family is not only foundational to our ability to thrive as a culture, but it goes back thousands of years. As Glenn writes:

The concept of the mother/father/child triad as the fundamental nucleus of all human society stretches back to the ancient philosopher Aristotle. In Aristotle’s Politics, his explanation for how human civilization functions best, the great philosopher begins in Book I explaining how the exclusive union of husband and wife and their common children serve as the literal nucleus upon which the village, state, and nation are established and successfully sustained.
Aristotle explains, “There must be a union of those who cannot exist without each other, for example male and female, that the race may continue.” He adds, “The family is the association established by nature for the supply of humanity’s everyday wants, and the members of it are called by Charondes ‘companions of the cupboard’ and by Epimenides the Cretan, ‘companions of the manger.’”

Of course, the Bible is clear that the nuclear family is God’s original idea. In the second chapter of Genesis, we read that man was lonely and needed a help mate (Genesis 2:18), and so God created the woman out of the man (Genesis 2:21-23). We then learn that God created marriage and directed the man to leave his mother and father and cling to his wife (Genesis 2:24).

Liberals have a habit of thinking what they’re living through is somehow new and unique. This is one of the reasons for the so-called climate crisis. It never occurs to them that weather is ever changing. We hear warnings about the warmest and coldest recorded temperatures, but the radicals fail to acknowledge that the earth has gone through a wide array of climate variations throughout its existence.

The nuclear family is not a new concept. It’s not a new idea. It’s a biblical creation as old as mankind itself. We’re also not pack animals. Each person is a unique and divine creation. It’s true that we are made for community, but despite what perspective Michelle Obama is parroting, men and women were designed to marry, have children, and care for the rising generation. We’re also commanded to care for the older generation, especially our mother and father (Exodus 20:12).

Ignorance of the family as an institution doesn’t disqualify anyone from enjoying the blessings of one. However late to the realization of the power and importance of mothers and fathers and children, it’s always good when the penny drops and the Lord lifts the blinders and impresses upon someone just how critical the family is to individuals and the culture at-large.