Jenna Bush Hager is done with "big parties" after losing a child at her daughter's birthday celebration, speaking to every parents stress of managing large groups of kids running wild. "Mila Hager turned 11," Jenna, mom of three, said of her eldest child.
For her party, the Today with Hoda & Jenna cohost says she took a group of 15 girls to the American Dream mall in New Jersey, "quite an extravaganza" as she described it. "Mila and her friends had a blast," Jenna said. "And it was wonderful … until we lost one child."
Before the party, Jenna questioned how she'd keep tabs on all the girls, considering buying matching rash guards before realizing they wouldn't arrive in time. "So I just let it go, and I thought, 'You know what? I was a teacher. I took 24 kids on a subway in Washington, DC, by myself. I got this,'" she said.
Until she didn't. "And then what?" Hoda Kotb asked. "Well it turns out, I didn't really have it," Jenna said. "When it's your own children who don't really listen to you the way your students did."
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Jenna had instructed the girls to stay with a partner. "That's the No. 1 rule. And the No. 2 rule is: be up here at 2:15 p.m.," she said. "Well, nobody showed up at 2:15, and I panicked because the smallest among us, Poppy's little friend who is the cutest, sweetest … I wouldn't choose which child to lose, but I would not want to lose her, OK?"
When Hoda asked what happened, Jenna replied, "She went missing. It was horrible." It turns out that Poppy wanted to ride a scary ride, so she and her friend parted ways. "Finally I found her waiting by the lion from some movie," Jenna said, adding that Poppy mentioned her friend might be there, but also failed to make that the "headline" of the conversation. Jenna first searched the open wave pool because Poppy thought her friend might have been there.
"Anyway, I've realized I love Mila. Happy birthday. I am retiring from water parks," Jenna said. "I'm retiring from big parties. I've decided, 'Nope.'" For future small engagements, she plans to bring along a cousin and a friend.
"Mama is done," Jenna said. "In fact, I think we need to make a 'Mama is done' list of things we're never doing again." And so the two cohosts did.
Included on the list of things they're done with are: big parties, kids begging to stay up late, ungrateful behavior, kids saying, "I don't like my dinner," kids jumping on you without any warning, threatening things that are never going to come true, and parents punishing themselves by taking things away from their kids, leaving parents having to fill the void by playing with their kids all day.
"In fact, I'm done playing for a little bit, too," Jenna added. Hoda responded, "We're tired of playing." Parents in the comments weighed in with their opinions. "Hilarious! I love their honesty," one person said. "Mommy is the hardest job in the world."
