Joanna Gaines Apologized To Husband Chip For 'Unintentionally' Giving Their Kids This Trait

Over the years, HGTV has produced more than its fair share of famous families — from the El Moussas to the Napiers to, of course, the Gaineses. While it's true that Chip and Joanna Gaines made their bones as the hosts of "Fixer Upper," the members of their brood seem to be slowly but surely moving on from being HGTV kids. But even though the Gaines children are growing up fast (and pursuing their own interests), the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. However, sometimes they fall a lot closer to one tree than the other. In fact, Joanna says she's even had to apologize to Chip for one specific trait she says she accidentally gave their kids.

In a May 2026 blog post shared on the website of her and Chip's lifestyle brand, Magnolia, Joanna kicked off the summer by admitting that she much prefers staycations to vacations. Her children largely take after her in this regard. "We're not naturally big 'go on vacation' people — even in nature's most persuasive season," Joanna wrote at the time. "For our family, home is where we recharge, where we reconnect," she continued, adding, "Here, we are our most relaxed, our most free."

Even Joanna apparently finds herself questioning her own habits in this respect. "I wonder if all the comfort we feel in here is limiting our ability to thrive out there. In those moments, I tell myself I need to be more adventurous in the classical sense," she further confessed in her blog post.

Joanna Gaines has made no secret of the fact that her kids growing up and leaving the nest hasn't always been an easy transition for her. Speaking to People in January 2025, the "Fixer Upper" co-host opened up about her son, Drake, leaving for college, and her oldest daughter, Ella, following him out the door not long after. "I'm pretty steady. But I think just the idea that I realize that one move out with that one kid, it triggers something now where it starts feeling everything goes fast," she said.

On the subject of Ella, in particular, Joanna later shared during an appearance on Joy 101 in September 2026 that her second-oldest going off to college also seriously exacerbated her "mom guilt." "I remember just crying a little bit and thinking, 'Okay, this is the moment I can just say I'm sorry for anywhere I wasn't present,'" she said.

With all that in mind, it's perhaps unsurprising that these big changes have only reinforced Joanna's homebody tendencies. After all, that time spent at home with her family is more precious to her now than ever before. "These days, summer for me looks a bit different. It's my kids coming home, or staying home, and settling back in," Joanna wrote in her aforementioned May 2026 blog post. She further remarked that while she and her family wouldn't necessarily become reclusive whenever her kids were home from school, she hoped to spend the vast majority of their time together "chasing the ordinary."