Hoda Kotb encourages moms to take their full maternity leave: Its not a vacation
Hoda Kotb adopted her eldest daughter, Haley Joy, in 2017. This spring, Haley became a big sister to Hope Catherine. A few weeks later, in May, Hoda and her daughters covered People. I love reading stories about Hoda. She seems like such a joyful person, and it’s clear that she loves being a mom and is so grateful to have her daughters in her life. Hoda is currently savoring her maternity leave, which includes a lot of trips to the beach. Though she’s excited to reunite with her Today colleagues again in a couple of weeks, on September 3, she doesn’t want to rush her time at home with her girls and her partner, Joel Schiffman. She spoke to People about how precious this time is:
“Work is incredibly important, but I do understand what my North Stars are now. And it’s clear. And when something is clear like that, decisions come easy,” Kotb tells PEOPLE. “I know I come from a place of incredible fortune … and [have taken] a maternity leave that is longer than most people are allowed to take. I’m on-my-knees grateful for that, because it matters to me. It’s not something everybody can do.”
“I can’t tell you how excited I am to go back, but at the same time I feel like I didn’t miss this moment,” she adds. “We all need to pay [our] bills and have insurance … we can’t take all the time we want. I get it. But I feel like if you can, and if you’re at a point where you feel like you can do it, you should do it. I’m sure every woman wants to do it and can’t. But if more women are taking the allotted time, then other women aren’t going to look at them funny.”
However, “It’s not a vacation,” Kotb warns. “I worked harder on maternity leave than I did at work. You’re up at the crack of dawn, and you’re up all hours. Stay-at-home moms should be called work-at-home moms. You are up all the time. We post stuff on Instagram from the beach, but it’s work. But it’s the best work. It’s the best work I did in my life. I don’t know if my kids will remember it, but … I will always remember.”
[From People]
Hoda also gushed that Hope is interacting with Haley and grabbing her while Haley is giving her kisses. Haley is “talking nonstop” and using complete sentences now, which Hoda said cracks her up. Hoda declared that this “will go down in my life as the best summer I ever had or will ever had.” Reading this article made me happy. I’m glad that Hoda’s summer has been such a great, meaningful one. A couple of friends have recently given birth, and I know they are already dreading going back to work. Hoda is right that if mothers (all parents!) have leave available they should take it, and not feel guilty about that. I appreciate that she acknowledges that she has the gift of a longer maternity leave than most mothers in the U.S., but she’s entitled to it use it, and I hope that she savors every last bit of it.
Here’s a video of Hoda announcing her return:
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