Jenna Bush Hager on the Good, Bad, and Ugly of Being a Working Mom
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She has two young daughters, a four-month-old son, and a demanding gig hosting the Today show — so we imagine Jenna Bush Hager is very, very tired. But, if a recent interview is any indication, she’s also loving her life as a working mom of three, and finding beauty in the everyday moments.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy or always pretty. “Whenever anybody walks in, we go, ‘Welcome to the nut house.’ Who says that? I do,” the former first daughter admits to People. “If I’m alone with all three kids, which I have been because my husband travels for work, it’s tricky.”
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Watching her eldest daughter, Mila, learn to read on the other hand? Bush Hager counts that among the “most magnificently beautiful” moments of her life. “It’s just such a simple thing, but it’s something I love so much,” Bush Hager tells People. “You hear these clichés in parenting and they’re all true. ‘Time goes so fast.’ ‘The days are long, but the years are short.’ All of that is a cliché because it’s real, but nobody tells you about these little moments in parenting that will mean the most to you. And I think watching my daughter learn to love something that I’ve loved since I was a little girl has been an unbelievable part of parenting.”
A post shared by Jenna Bush Hager (@jennabhager) on Aug 5, 2019 at 5:34am PDT
Bush Hager also shares a bit about juggling her life as a mother alongside her work — and opens up about another everyday moment she relished during her maternity leave.
“What was really a joy of maternity leave was that I got to take my girls to school every single morning,” she said. “I try to focus on what I can do and what I do bring because I think if we beat ourselves up for everything we miss, then we’re not as happy of a parent as we can be. [My husband] Henry and I both have big jobs, but I’m hoping that our kids realize the biggest job and our biggest priority is them.”
Bush Hager’s views on working motherhood are so relatable — because managing the demands of parenthood and career simultaneously will never be easy, and we’ll probably always feel the pull of missing out on those special moments in our kids’ lives. But Bush Hager’s habit of savoring those simple moments? That’s something we can all implement.
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