Though she tries to let her two young daughters learn how to make their own decisions, the 'Today' co-host spills the time she is forced to go against her parenting principles.
- Jun 14, 2023
AceShowbiz - Hoda Kotb found her young daughter's request to wear a crop top to be "weird." During an episode of "Today with Hoda & Jenna", the TV news anchor opened up about the time she was forced to go against her parenting principles with her 6-year-old.
On Monday, June 12, the 58-year-old shared the story about her little girl Haley with her co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager. "So Haley wants to wear a midriff. She asked me about a midriff," she first brought up the topic that got Jenna reconfirming, "A crop top?"
Hoda went on to recall what happened, "[Haley] was walking down the street and she goes, 'Hi mom,' and she pulled [her shirt] up halfway. I go, 'What are you doing?' She's like, 'Nothing,' and she's giggling out of her mind." She then blurted out, "It's weird!"
The mother of two then asked, "You want your kids to feel good in your own skin - but isn't that a weird thing?" On what she did next, she further recounted, "I said, 'No. No, we are not doing that.' "
Hoda's story led the co-hosts to discuss parenting principles in letting kids make their own decisions. "I often wrestle with making your kid in charge or in control and then saying no," Hoda confessed. "We always do the, 'Do you want blueberries or raspberries? Do you want to wear pink or red? You pick! See, you can choose! See you have some control!' "
Hoda continued explaining, "Then I wonder, what are we doing? Even though that's what parenting is now, sometimes you wonder if you have one choice." She added, "Sometimes it has gotta be no, don't you think?"
Hoda is a mother to two adopted daughters, 6-year-old Haley and 3-year-old Hope. In the June 8 episode of "Just B with Bethenny Frankel" podcast, she opened up about her decision to adopt, "I remember never saying out loud that I wanted kids, never, because it was too late."
"For girls that it's too late for, you don't say it because if you say it, you're expressing something that you're never going to get," she continued. She further recalled the time when she talked to an adoption agency, "I took a yellow pad out, and I wrote, '11:55. This is the moment everything changes.' "
"I knew it. And I took a deep breath and dialed the number, and I said, 'Ashley?' and she said two words to me. She said, 'She's here,' " she added. "I don't know what birth feels like, and I bet it was amazing, but this was really close. I remember that feeling like it was yesterday."
