Jenna Bush Hager’s daughter Mila is showing off a gift from her grandfather, former President George W. Bush.
“A gift from Jefe! She loves!” Bush Hager, 43, captioned a photo shared via Instagram Story on Sunday, April 13, which featured Mila, 11, holding a painting of her pet cat from her grandfather, whom the grandchildren lovingly call “Jefe.”
Along with Mila, Bush Hager shares children Poppy, 9, and Hal, 5, with husband Henry Hager. During a recent episode of the Today show, Bush Hager reflected on being a parent and shared a revelation she had a few years ago about raising children.
“We’d always had Halloween with our family and family friends. Mila, my daughter was like, ‘I want to go trick-or-treating with other people,’” Bush Hager recalled. “At first, I was like, ‘Wait — what? Like, how dare you.’”
But after taking a step back, she realized, “I’m not going to be in all my kids’ memories … we should make our kids feel confident so they can go and be their own people.”
Mila Courtesy of Jenna Bush Hager/Instagram
Speaking exclusively with Us Weekly in March, the Today host shared how her parents, George, 78, and former First Lady Laura Bush, influenced her and her sister Barbara Bush’s own parenting styles.
“I would say it was sort of, like, the laissez-faire parenting of the ‘80s and ‘90s,” Barbara, 43, told Us. “Our parents were very around, but we had a lot of freedom in terms of playing outside and exploring our neighborhood and just kind of being out and about in a, obviously, safe way. But it was before cell phones and before the constant connection and communication that we all have now.”
Jenna concurred with her sister, telling Us that her parents’ focus on living in the moment is part of what influenced her decision to hold off on giving Mila a cell phone.
Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/Getty Images Hoda Kotb was in her feels listening to a sweet story Jenna Bush Hager shared about her late grandfather. On the Wednesday, June 5, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna, Bush Hager, 42, tearfully reminisced about an “evening I spent with my grandpa” not long before he died. “He could […]
“She’s in sixth grade. A lot of kids in her grade do, but we are waiting on that,” Jenna shared. “But therefore, she knows how to go up to people and say — I’m like, ‘If you need me, go into a store and you have my number.’”
But that’s not the only thing her parents taught her about raising kids.
“They tried to make the world creative and magical for us,” Jenna said. “And when you’re really little, the world is magical. So, it’s both parents being part of their kids’ lives, but it’s also parents getting kid energy, putting down their phones and seeing what they see because it’s hilarious and it’s fun.”
