Jenna Bush Hager’s daughter Mila’s 11th birthday party was fun for the kids, but it was “absolute panic” for her.
“We went to the American Dream mall, which if any of y’all visit this area or live in this area, it is quite extravagant,” Bush Hager, 42, said during the Monday, April 15, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “I don’t know why I felt like taking 15 girls to, like, a water park and then a theme park.”
Along with Mila, Bush Hager shares daughter Poppy, 8, and son Hal, 4, with her husband, Henry Hager. “Mila and her friends had a blast, and it was wonderful until we lost one child,” she confessed.
The group used the buddy system during the outing, but one of Poppy’s friends still managed to be left behind when she didn’t want to go on a “scary ride” that the rest of the party attendees did.
“I thought, ‘You know what? I was a teacher. I took 24 kids on a subway in Washington, D.C. by myself. I got this.’ Well, turns out, I didn’t really have it,” Bush Hager stated, noting that she proceeded to tell Poppy that they “never leave people behind.”
The missing child was eventually found, but not before Bush Hager searched high and low at the in-mall water park’s wave pool. “Poppy didn’t mention that she might be waiting for me by the lion, but I said, ‘You should have made that [clear]. That should have been the headline,’” Bush Hager joked.
Following the chaotic birthday celebration, Bush Hager is “retiring from water parks” and “big parties,” telling cohost Hoda Kotb, “I’ve said, ‘You can have your cousin and a friend. You can do small things. No more [big parties]. Momma is done.’”
Bush Hager frequently shares updates about her kids with Hoda & Jenna viewers. In January, she revealed that Mila was “repulsed” by watching her and Hager, 45, kiss at a New Year’s celebration. She later admitted her confusion over her kids’ being interested in skincare at such a young age.
During a March episode of the NBC morning show, Bush Hager revealed why she lets Mila read The Summer I Turned Pretty book series, which is for teens. “I would so much rather my kids learn about sex or drinking or whatever it is through books than through YouTube,” she explained. “I would so much rather my kids read something and get to come to their mom’s bedside and say, ‘Hey, mom. I didn’t quite get this,’ and me be able to help lead the conversation than her having influencers do that for her.”
Bush Hager also noted that the books have helped her teach Mila the importance of consent. “The thing I say to her is, ‘You are the chooser. If something doesn’t feel right to you, don’t do it,’” she stated.
Kotb, 59, praised her cohost’s parenting decision, stating that kids are exposed to far more “inappropriate” content on the internet than in the TSITP books. “And the fact that a child is actually reading, like, wants to read something [is great],” Kotb, who shares daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 4, with ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman, added.
