Melania Trump's Awkward Gaffe At Children's Event Poked Holes In Her Polished First Lady Agenda

"Has Melania Trump ever been around children?" is a question that many found themselves asking after she made an embarrassing error in December 2025. Although the first lady had good intentions behind her visit to the Children's National Hospital, she ultimately seemed to have left the little ones quite bored. For over five minutes, Melania read "How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?" without once turning the picture book over to the kids so that they could marvel at the gorgeous illustrations that were clearly created to keep their short attention spans engaged.

.@FLOTUS reads "How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?" to the brave young kids at Children's National Hospital ❤️🎄 pic.twitter.com/C2RGWp1VNU

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 5, 2025

After watching the cringeworthy clip, many people took to X to point out that the child on Melania's side seemed to have mentally checked out a few minutes into the reading session. Notably, many children in the front row appeared to be in their own little world when the camera panned to them near the end of the story. Moreover, one person stated that the former model could have also fared far better with the children if she had worn something festive and not an all-black outfit that looked like it came out of a funeral director's closet. 

Unfortunately, Melania's frumpy fit for the Christmas event did indeed look like it was plucked off her bathroom floor. And one commentator poured salt in Donald Trump's wife's wounds by sharing a video of Barack Obama captivating a class of children by actually showing them the pictures in a picture book. Ultimately, the gaffe would have likely been even more embarrassing for Melania because her first lady initiative "Be Best" is centered around children's well-being. 

Donald Trump's past parenting confession totally backfired on Melania Trump and left everyone to question, 'Did Barron Trump have a nanny?' Speaking to People in 2015, the future president shared that they didn't like to be overly reliant on nannies because they believed that external help would create distance between them and their child. After stating that she wanted to be a "hands-on" parent, Melania said, "Barron is 9 years old. He needs somebody as a parent there, so I am with him all the time. As you know my husband is traveling all the time." 

However, during a May 2006 interview with The Palm Beach Post, the future first lady confirmed that they had a nanny. After insisting that caring for Barron remained her first priority, she admitted, "In one way, we still need to have a life." However, after watching Melania's attempts at reading to children in December 2025, it's easy to question whether she was hands-on as she claimed. 

To make matters even more awkward, she made the exact same error when she read "Oliver the Ornament" to kids at The Children's Hospital around Christmas 2018. However, it might just be a Christmas thing because she has been far more interactive with the little ones during her Easter reading nooks through the years. At the end of the day, though, there's no denying that Melania's rare megawatt smile always comes out around children, so she does seem to really enjoy being around them. If she could only make that experience equally enjoyable for them, that would be great.