‘Today’ Show Launches Parenting Team After Staff Baby Boom

By Brian Flood 

It seems like everyone on the “Today” show is having kids these days. Well, this morning the new “Today” Parenting Team was announced.

Matt Lauer started the segment by saying, “did someone poop a diaper, or is that just me.” Somehow, nobody followed up with an Al Roker joke. Anyway, Lauer and Savannah Guthrie went on to announce the “Today” Parenting Team while surrounded by… yup, babies dressed in orange.

Today BabiesThe cross-platform community that was inspired by the “Today” baby boom is designed to connect parents together and offer solution-oriented advice. The concept is essentially a forum for parents, soon-to-be parents and anyone else to discuss child-related challenges with other parents and experts.

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“Today” anchors Guthrie, Carson Daly, Jenna Bush Hager and  Jenna Wolfe have all had babies recently, while double-digit behind-the-scenes staffers have also become new parents over the last few months. Veteran parents Lauer, Natalie Morales, Willie Geist and Sheinelle Jones are also members of the Parenting Team. With that many parents in one studio, exchanging ideas comes natural.

Carson“This has really been an organic, visible conversation. So, the ‘Today’ Parenting Team is an evolution of everything that has come before,” NBC News SVP of Brand Partnerships Jen Brown said. “A lot of competitors talk to just the mom of the baby. We’re definitely talking to the mom of the baby, but we’re also talking to my parents. The grandparent. Hoda [Kotb] is talking about her niece and always giving the advice from the aunt/friend point of view. I think that’s a really big thing for us.”Parenting Team Today

Audience members and fans are also encouraged to share their own experiences and can even vote on their favorite content. “So many parents rely on the power of collective wisdom, myself included,” Brown said. “From millennial parents to baby boomers, the ‘Today’ Parenting Team is a community that offers easy access to a shared wealth of knowledge and personal experience.”

Jones, who hosts “Weekend Today,” has two-year old twins and a five-year old. She  joined Brown to discuss the Parenting Team in front of a group of reporters inside the “Today” studio’s Orange Room. Jones explained how she was offered encouragement from fans via twitter when she told a story on-air about being “so over the pacifier.”

“We’re all juggling, we’re all multi-tasking. I really look forward to what people say,” Jones said while expressing her excitement about the blog.

“We have the ability to take the responses that we’re getting from this community and elevate them with our really professional storytelling,” Brown said.

Check out the entire segment below:

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