On Monday’s instalment of Today with Hoda & Jenna, Jenna Bush Hager, 41, recounted to her co-host, Hoda Kotb, 58, that her three-year-old son Hal accomplished a significant milestone while on a family holiday – he learned to swim!
Jenna was brimming with maternal pride as she shared: “Hal learned to swim! He swam to that dock, but on Henry’s back. That’s an ocean…”
The amazement in Hoda’s voice was palpable as she remarked, “Wait a minute…the fact that he’s out there?”
Acknowledging Hoda’s concern, Jenna responded: “I know, believe me.” Hoda then probed, “Were you scared?” to which Jenna assented.
Hoda expressed the complexity of the situation for a parent, stating, “Letting your child do scary things supervised is the hardest thing as a grown-up.”
Jenna shares her three children — Mila, 10, Poppy, seven, and Hal, three — with her husband, Henry Chase Hager.
Jenna reflected on her coping strategy, remarking: “I actually just closed my eyes and let him handle it. ‘Cause I don’t want to be a backseat parent.”
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It was here that Hoda shared a parenting wisdom imparted to her by their friend, Maria Shriver.
Hoda recounted Maria’s advice: “One of the things she did when she was parenting was, as long as the kids were safe and supervised, she made sure that they were in situations that feel scary because they’re new — swimming in the ocean — all the time.”
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She further explained the rationale behind such an approach: “‘You’re fine, you’re floating.’ Not ‘Are you okay? Are you okay?’ To let them not feel the fear in that age, because that will go on and through life.”
Jenna added to the conversation by expressing: “Yeah because you’re always supervised with bubble wrap on you, you’re never going to feel out of your comfort zone.”
Hoda continued narrating Maria’s perspective: “‘No, they’re fine. Everybody’s fine. Everybody get on the inner tube, we’re going to pull you, you’re fine.'” Jenna, fondly remembering her own childhood, said, “That’s what my dad did too.”
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“See, that’s why you’re fearless. That’s why you jump out of planes!” Hoda exclaimed. “That’s why you don’t care if someone says, ‘Can you do that? You say, ‘Yes, I can do it.’ We gotta do that.”
Jenna concluded the enlightening conversation with a touch of self-awareness, saying, “But I’m less like Maria and my dad and a little bit more worried. But then I just keep my mouth shut. You can hide things deep down inside!”
