Hoda Kotb Reveals Brilliant Way She Handled Her Daughter's Public Meltdown
The 'Today' anchor had an innovative way of handling a parenting crisis.
Children's tantrums can really test a parent, even if it's The TODAY Show host Hoda Kotb.
But when she recently faced a particularly intense meltdown from her daughter, the 58-year-old had a brilliant way of dealing with the problem.
The mother of two–daughters, Haley Joy, 5, and Hope Catherine, 3, who she co-parents with ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman, shared the experience with TODAY Parents.
She explained that she was out for lunch with Haley when her daughter suddenly had a "totally out of control" meltdown.
Kotb doesn't remember what triggered it, but she said, "It was just the two of us and I was like, ‘What am I going to do?’”
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Nearby were two mothers who kept looking over sympathetically, so Kotb used it as an opportunity to distract Haley.
"I go, ‘Pick up your food, we’re gonna go sit with these people over there,'" described Kotb.
She went on, "We carried our hamburgers over to these strangers… it was really weird for sure. But all of a sudden, the temperature went down."
Kotb said that the "distraction" was all Haley needed to calm down and get over the momentary meltdown.
She admitted that unexpected moments like that are tough, saying, "When there’s a public meltdown, I don’t know what to do. But know that every now and then, there’s somebody who kind of extends a hand."
Kotb adopted Haley and Hope in 2017 and 2019, respectively, and she's been very open about motherhood and enjoying life with her daughters.
She shared Haley and Hope's recent adventures running a lemonade stand and participating in races on the beach on Instagram, writing, "Lemonade stands.. chasing the last days of summer.. nice way to say goodbye . Until next year ☀️☀️🕶."
It looks like the lemonade was quite popular, as the first photo shows plenty of people lining up at Haley and Hope's stand.
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