Hoda explains how she reacted when daughter Haley asked what a diet was

Like most kids, are sponges, and they ask a lot of questions. But has a clever way to redirect the conversation when she doesn’t think a topic is appropriate to discuss with her girls.

In  of  the TODAY co-anchor recalled a question , 7, recently posed and how she reacted.

“My mom and my sister and I were talking. And my sister said something about going on a diet. And , who’s 7, said, ‘What’s a diet?’… She (doesn’t) know because we’ve never said it,” she told her guest, model .

Thinking quickly on her feet, delicately changed the subject after her daughter asked the question.

“I didn’t say a word. I wasn’t like, ‘We don’t talk about that in our house.’ You know, I just let it ride. … Don’t make a thing out of it,” she said.

went on to explain why she didn’t want to get into the topic of diets with

“I was thinking about that because it is true. I mean, I walk around with stains, and Haley goes, ‘You’ve got a stain on your shirt.’ I go, ‘Exactly. Let’s go out.’ But I want her to know that flawed is beautiful, that broken crayons still color, like all the things that we need,” she said.

The topic came up during Hoda’s conversation with Graham, who has called “A Kids Book About Beauty.”

While discussing the book, Graham explained why it’s a good fit for kids and parents alike.

“When adults are reading it with their kids, they have to really internalize this book and do it at home, too, because your children are watching you. They are soaking it all up. And they’re saying exactly what you say,” she noted. “And when you say that you don’t like something about yourself, your kid is going to go look in the mirror and say, ‘Wait, do I have that same thing that Mommy or Daddy said? Is that something that is wrong with me too?'”

For this reason, Graham believes it’s important for parents to watch what they say around children at home.

“The home is where everything starts … create a solid rock at home,” she said.

Elsewhere in their conversation, and how they coped with “ouch” moments.

“I think I have a lot of ouches, and that’s why I had the perseverance in my career to be able to like push through. And being not so different that I felt like I didn’t fit in 100% — but being different enough where I knew that I was different — was kind of a catalyst to being able to brush it off but also internalize things that made me stronger,” Graham said.

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