First family's first week both ordinary and inspiring

Cleveland Plain Dealer reporters Robert L. Smith, Laura Johnston and Margaret Bernstein offer a glimpse of parenting in the White House:

The First Kids, Malia and Sasha, have their own rooms with fireplaces. But they're expected to pick up their toys and make their beds.

Michelle Obama, the mom-in-chief, decreed an 8 p.m. bedtime.

Grandma will help to enforce the rules and salve wounds in a household still growing. As the world knows, the Obamas are getting a dog.

A young, busy, uncommonly traditional family moved into the White House last week, enchanting the nation, inspiring parents and offering a new model of the American family. ...

"They're just kind of perfect, aren't they?" said Renee Sentilles, an American women's history professor at Case Western Reserve University. "A whole sense of healing coming together, in that they do have black and white sides to this family. And they're an ideal family. ... I definitely think the Obama family is a huge plus in a time when our economy's falling apart."

Others simply like their unabashed ordinariness. Christie Manning, director of the Greater Cleveland Family Support Consortium, and a mother of two young children, laughs when recalling how the Obama girls spent inauguration night watching movies in their new home.

"I thought, 'That might happen at all of our houses,' " she said.

Related: How unfazed are the girls? President says 'they're a lot cooler than I am' (China Daily)