The Recent Parenting Moment That Made Jenna Bush Hager Get Emotional

Published: August 6, 2025

By India McCarty

Jenna Bush Hager just shared the sweet reason why a recent concert with her daughters made her start “crying.”

“We sat down — and think about how embarrassing this is as a child,” Hager said during a recent episode of TODAY WITH JENNA & FRIENDS. “And just seeing how excited they were for [the Gracie Abrams concert], I started crying. I was like, ‘This is so beautiful.’”

Hager attended the show with daughters Mila, 12, and Poppy, 9, and got emotional thinking about the show “through their eyes.”

“I was just thinking, like, this could be the last time my seventh grader is cool with sitting next to her mom at a concert. In a few years, she’s gonna be going with all of her buddies,” she continued. “It was so fun, and it was just a moment…Maybe it was too much, but we gotta live. Live and just take that in, with so much time.”

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During another episode of JENNA & FRIENDS, Hager called Mila “a sweet tween,” adding, “There’s, you know, some changes and she’s the sweetest, kindest, [most] empathetic girl. And I’m so proud of her.”

Hager explained that she makes it a point to reinforce those qualities, telling her daughter, “Gosh, you’re so sweet,” or “Look at how empathetic you are.”

She continued, “Sure, they’re going to every once in a while show their tween or teen self, but really, it’s like that loving kid that was in her still there.”

“I hope that the way Henry [her husband] and I treat people is rubbed off, you know?” she said. “And she witnesses that, but she’s a good kid. All of them are. They’re all wild, too, but they’re good.”

Another component of Hager’s parenting strategy as her kids get older? Keeping them off of social media.

“I have a 12-year-old, she does not have a phone and she won’t for a bit. And she definitely won’t have social media,” she said during an episode of her podcast, “Open Book With Jenna.” “And, you know, it also is a conversation. I wasn’t raised by super strict parents, I’m not super strict. Like, I believe in conversation, I believe in her having the voice.”

Hager continued, “I feel like some parents are scared to say ‘no’ to their children, and we’ve given her a boundary that she’s known about for a long time. Kids want boundaries…and the other thing that’s easy to say is like, ‘I’m doing this because I love your brain. Like I care about how you grow up.’”

Hager’s recent emotional moment is a sweet response from a parent adjusting to seeing their child grow up — as well as a reminder to appreciate these moments and live in them fully.

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