Joanna Gaines Opens Up in Emotional Parenting Moment With Youngest Son Crew

Joanna Gaines may be a design and food mogul, but at home, she’s simply “mom.” With five kids ranging from college-age to elementary school, the “Fixer Upper” star has years of parenting experience — and plenty of wisdom to share. In a new interview, the Magnolia founder opened up about her youngest son, Crew, and a moving story about how he handled being teased at school.

Joanna Gaines Opens Up About Crew’s School Lunch Experience

While speaking with Delish editorial director Joanna Saltz for the outlet’s exclusive cover story, Gaines revealed how seven-year-old Crew recently came home upset after classmates made fun of his lunch.

“The other day, my sweet boy came home and said, ‘Everyone made fun of me for bringing seaweed to school, so I’m going to go to lunch next week and bring everyone a packet, and we’re going to make it fun,’” Gaines recalled. “I remember all the kids would make fun of me, like, ‘Oh, your food stinks.’ I’m like, ‘Crew, don’t ever lose this — this is the most beautiful thing about you.’”

Gaines, whose new Food Network show “Magnolia Table: At the Farm” premieres in September, added that she reminded her son to hold onto what makes him unique. “I told him we’re going to work through this,” she said. “And your friends are going to love this because they’re going to know the story.”

The TV personality shared that her kids’ favorite meals are a reflection of their family’s heritage. “My favorite thing about my kiddos [is that] their favorite food is Lebanese food and Korean food,” she explained. “As far removed as they are from it — they never even met their great-grandparents — they know their story and their tradition through food is what I get to keep alive. [It’s] such an honor.”

To deepen that connection, Gaines and her husband Chip took their children to Korea two years ago. “I remember people coming up to our table because all my kids don’t look Korean, but they were eating kimchi tofu soup, seaweed soup, and they were like, ‘We never see American people [eat] like [that],’” she said. “And I’m like, well, my mother fed them this since they were very little. So that to them is very normal food.”

The Magnolia Table Founder on Family Meals and Cooking With Her Kids

Even with her expertise in the kitchen — she runs the Waco-based Magnolia Table restaurant and has authored four New York Times bestselling cookbooks — Gaines admits feeding five children isn’t always easy.

“I have five kids with five very different palates. They all have their specifications,” she told Delish back in April. “One of my kids just only wants pasta. Nonstop pasta. My 16-year-old boy only wants meat and potatoes and bread.”

Still, there are a couple of dishes that bring the entire family together. “The thing that they can all agree on is anything for breakfast,” Gaines shared. “We do fresh huevos rancheros. We’ll make the corn tortillas. I’ll make the ranchera sauce. Everyone will get up for it.”

She added that her “crunchy French toast recipe” is another guaranteed hit: “No one is complaining about those two.”

Sundays are reserved for meal planning, and Gaines lets each child pick a dish for the week. Her daughter Ella, 18, enjoys making traditional recipes like Syrian donuts. But it’s Crew who seems most eager to follow in his mom’s footsteps.

“I can always wrangle him up anytime. He’s always by my side, so he’s really my sidekick in the kitchen, and he’s truly interested in how things work,” Gaines said. “He wants to touch it, he wants to do it, he wants to stir it. So I have a little cooking buddy with Crew. If anyone’s gonna be a chef in the Gaines family, I put my money on Crew.”

Joanna Gaines’ new show, “Magnolia Table: At the Farm,” will premiere on Magnolia Network and Food Network on Sunday, Sept. 7, at 11 a.m. ET. Episodes will be available for streaming on HBO Max the same day they air.