Barack Obama admits he cried after dropping Malia off at Harvard

Former US President Barack Obama has admitted to pulling a classic dad move, crying while dropping daughter Malia off on her first day at Harvard University.

Obama recalled the experience in a speech at the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children in Delaware this week.

For those of us who have daughters, it just happens fast," he told the audience.

I dropped off Malia at college, and I was saying to Joe and Jill [Biden] that it was a little bit like open-heart surgery.

Obama said he was able to hold it together in front of Malia, but lost it once he and wife Michelle left campus.

I was proud that I did not cry in front of her," Obama said, "but on the way back, the secret service was looking straight ahead pretending they weren't hearing me as I sniffled and blew my nose. It was rough.

And it's a reminder that at the end of our lives, whatever else we've accomplished, the thing that we'll remember are the joys that our children, and hopefully way later, our grandchildren bring.

Malia Obama, 19 started her first year at Harvard in August after deferring her enrollment for a year. The Obama family continues to live in Washington, D.C. while their younger daughter, Sasha, 16, finishes high school.