Jenna Bush Hager speaks for parents everywhere who struggle to assemble their children’s toys.
“On Christmas morning, Hal received a Paw Patrol tent because he’s into [spinoff] Rubble and Crew. Here comes the tent that’s about $9.99,” Bush Hager, 42, began, speaking to her cohost Hoda Kotb on a Friday, March 1 episode of Today With Hoda and Jenna. “Do you know how long it took? How many people it took to set that tent up? It’s like, put the chord in this thing with this thing and they don’t fit, and you’re like, ‘Wait, does this thing go here?’ And then to break it down?”
“No,” Kotb, 59, responded, laughing. “You’d have to throw it away after a while.”
Bush Hager wasn’t finished, however, as she is no stranger to assembling toys for her son, Hal, 4, who she shares with husband Henry Chase Hager. The couple also share daughters Mila, 10, and Poppy, 8.
“What about when somebody gives your kid — and no offense, I love a Lego, I know it’s good for our kids brains,” she began. “[But] they give a Lego, which Henry’s like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait, Hal and I are gonna do this Lego set together.’ And then it’s a Monday and Henry is nowhere to be found and Hal said, ‘Can we do the Lego set?’”
Bush Hager’s rant was met with laughter from both Kotb and the crew on set.
“It’s for [ages] 8+ and he’s 4, and you’re reading the instructions like, ‘A to B — where are my glasses — C to D?’” the Today cohost continued. “And he’s looking at you like there’s something wrong with your fine motor skills when there are something [sic] wrong with my fine motor skills and I don’t wanna be doing that on a Monday? I want to be laying in bed watching Paw Patrol? In a tent I’ve closed in a closet?”
Bush Hager presents as a relatable mom, recently revealing that she dresses herself for public appearances in response to fans telling her to “fire” her stylists. A self-proclaimed “last-minute” girl, Bush Hager has described her personal style as “classic, laid-back and bohemian” with her wardrobe consisting of blouses, blazers and jeans.
“I think people think because we work on television that I have a stylist and I have to say, ‘I would be firing myself,’” Bush Hager told InStyle last month. “Or if they’re like, ‘We love your look. Can you send us where you got it from? Can you ask your stylist?’”
Bush Hager often shares stories about her children on Today. On a February 14 episode, she shared Hal’s unexpected reaction to seeing his mother on television for the first time.
“Hal Hager didn’t know what my job was. He didn’t know where I came to be with you every day, so I showed him the open of our show, and he started crying,” she shared and joked, “I don’t know if the man felt deceived or he just don’t like ‘Get On Up,’” referencing the show’s opening theme song.
New episodes of Today With Hoda and Jenna air weekdays on NBC at 10 a.m. ET.
