Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager Share ‘Hysterical’ Parenting Struggle

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager sparked laughter among their Today with Hoda & Jenna viewers this week as they bonded over a parenting struggle that fans agreed was both “hysterical” and relatable.

While Kotb missed her morning Today show appearance on Wednesday, Oct. 23, she was back in the studio in time for her show with the former first daughter that afternoon. As seen in a clip that their show later shared on Instagram, the two were chatting when Kotb, 60, mentioned a recent experience involving one of her daughters that left her stunned.

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According to Kotb, she was using math flashcards to help her daughter Haley study and observed her “flying through” the practice questions.

“Nine plus six. Seven plus eight. Boom, boom, boom. I go, ‘What are you doing?’” Kotb recalled. In contrast to her 7-year-old, Kotb suggested that she typically needs to count on her fingers to complete simple math equations, a practice she mimicked for the audience.

“She goes, ‘Mom, you just add two to eight, and then you subtract two. Eight plus four. Twelve,’ she says,” Kotb recalled. “Why? Because she took two away from the four, gave it to the eight, made it a 10, and there was two left over.“

“You’re hurting my head,” Bush Hager, 42, noted. She then shared a recent interaction she had with her 5-year-old son, Hal, in which she struggled to recall the number of hours in a day and tally them when asked to estimate how many hours were left before an upcoming event. Once she came up with the correct equation, “I go, ‘I don’t have my calculator. I’m out,’” Bush Hager said, causing a new ripple of laughter in the audience.

“Raise your hand if you feel like Hoda and Jenna when doing math with your kids! 🙋‍♀️😂,” their show wrote to caption a clip from their conversation that was posted on Instagram on Wednesday.

“Hysterical!” one fan wrote, adding that math remains “a daily struggle” for them.

“Love them. They are so real,” one fan gushed as another agreed with Bush Hager, writing, “Love this! No calculator, I’m out too! 👏.”

“Have never related to anything more,” another fan shared.

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