Hoda Kotb has no issue correcting people who assume she is the grandma of her young daughters.
The 60-year-old shared advice for other “older” moms during the “Social Dilemmas” segment of “Today with Hoda & Jenna” Tuesday after a viewer wrote in to ask about the etiquette of reprimanding people who make the mistake.
“Yes, you should. Yes, you should. That’s happened to me before,” Kotb shared.
Her co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, appeared stunned and asked, “Somebody called you grandma?”
“Yeah,” Kotb replied. “Someone said, ‘Oh, are you their grandma?’ I said, ‘No, I’m their mom.’”
While the outgoing “Today” co-anchor said she does not get bothered by the confusion, she understands why others feel frustrated when they have to clarify their status.
“I can get where if it happened nonstop all the time, I think it would probably get annoying,” she said.
Kotb shared that she prefers to correct people because she wants her kids, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, to “see and think” of her as their mom.
“So, I think for your kids’ sake, you should say, ‘Oh, no actually…’ but also don’t take offense, because, as I tell my kids, some moms are older, some moms are younger, some are taller, some are shorter,” she continued.
Bush Hager, 43, lightened up the topic by joking that “some moms are tired,” while others “want to crawl into the pantry and eat a string cheese.”
Kotb first shared her stance in a Real Simple column Monday, writing, “I think you correct them. Calmly. Because I’ve learned that your daughter won’t be reacting to what the person said — she’ll be reacting to how you’re reacting.”
Bush Hager, who co-wrote the column, chimed in, “I think conversations like this aren’t about how the other person feels. They’re about how you feel. You’re proud to be her mother, and you want your daughter to feel that. You want her to feel how happy you are that you chose this.”
Kotb adopted her first child, Haley, in February 2017 when she was 52.
She and her then-boyfriend, Joel Schiffman, adopted a second daughter, Hope, in April 2019 when she was 54.
The “Hope Is a Rainbow” author has previously discussed both the joys and challenges that come with being an older parent and even revealed that a viewer once mom-shamed her for having kids at her age.
