'Family First' and the First Family

Dr. Phil: "So you'd better be the best influence in your children's life."

First lady: "Mm-hmmm."

Dr. Phil: "You know, they're listening to television, they're -- all of the messages that are out there. You've got to counterbalance that. And I think one of the things that I worry about with education is we teach people how to read and write and add and subtract, but we don't teach them how to be moms and dads."

President of the United States: "Yeah."

Plowing through his list of "questions," Dr. Phil next wanted to know, "When you were raising your girls through the busy time, did you have a definition of success? Did you say, 'Okay, for these two girls, what is an absolutely out-of-the-park home run? This is what we're shooting for. This is what we want?' Did you all have that in mind when you were raising them?"

First lady: "I wouldn't say we had that -- "

President of the United States: "Not at all."

First lady: " -- formally in mind. You know, we wanted them to be happy. Wanted them to be successful."

Dr. Phil's wife, Robin, was there too, providing the illusion that this was not an interview, but a visit by a couple into the home of the president of the United States. She also made her own observations.

For instance, the president of the United States is exactly like Dr. Phil, her husband.

It's true. They're both "ornery." We have it straight from Mrs. Dr. Phil.

A couple of commercial breaks later, the president noted that "no one adequately warned us what it was like to be a parent of a teenager," sounding alarmingly like one of those 40 percent of respondents to Dr. Phil's Pre-Book Survey. Sensing danger, Dr. Phil jumped right in with advice for the First Couple:

"I think what parents have to do is say, "All right, what am I about here? I'm about socializing this child. I have to teach them what we stand for.' My dad used to say, 'If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.' "

"You'll fall for anything," added the first lady.