Keller @ Large: Give The Obamas Credit As Parents

BOSTON (CBS) - If you're a parent, you don't need me to tell you - making sure your kids do their homework and develop good study habits is one of the toughest and most important jobs you have. Sometimes even the best parents need a little help, like a celebrity role model to point to.

Now, you've got one.

The other night when President Obama gave his farewell address in Chicago, he was surrounded by close friends, aides and family. But when he gave a warm shout-out to his wife and daughters, his 15-year-old daughter Sasha was conspicuously missing. Naturally, this touched off a hashtag, #WhereIsSasha, and a flurry of speculation about what might have caused her to miss such an important moment.

It turns out that Sasha, a sophomore at a demanding private school in Washington, had a final exam in science scheduled for the next day, and was home studying for it. Asked about it later, Mrs. Obama said her daughter was told: "You know the Obamas, girl. Sorry! You have to take your test. You can say goodbye later."

Whatever else you may think about the Obama years, you've got to give the first couple credit for proper child-rearing.

I loved it when they persuaded the first lady's mother to move into the White House with them to help oversee the girls, and all that loving discipline appears to have paid off.

We don't know much about and rarely hear about the Obama daughters, in itself a tribute to their parents' oversight. But we do know this - if Sasha Obama did well on that test this week, she doesn't have to look far for who to thank for it.