Jennifer Garner Talks Mommyhood
Jennifer Garner is busy promoting her new movie, The Invention of Lying, and being a mom to two children, and she makes it look like its an easy job. She took some time out to talk to Parade about her children, finding inspiration and tips for working moms. Here are the highlights:
On her tips for working moms: “Good luck! Don’t be afraid to ask for help. You should try to get help wherever you can. Don’t guilt yourself, it doesn’t help. Do anything you can to try to save time with the dumb stuff around the house so you can be with your kids as much as you can. And put your BlackBerry down and just be with them.”
On taking advice from her mom: “My mom is full of good advice. She always says, ‘Happiness is your own responsibility.’ And she always says, ‘Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning.’ That’s what she would tell us after every breakup or anytime you did poorly on something. Most of our little bites of advice as kids came from either Little House on the Prairie or Anne of Green Gables.”
On finding inspiration at home: “My mom was really vigorous about making sure that we saw things and that we questioned things. Education was so important to both of my parents. My mom grew up in poverty in Oklahoma — like Dust Bowl, nine people in one room kind of place — and the way she got out of poverty was through education. My dad grew up without a dad, with very little and he also made his way out through education. So it’s always been emphasized in my house. There’s so much missed opportunity with all of these kids all across the country who aren’t getting what they need to do well in school and once you don’t do well in school you don’t want to go to school. So it’s a cycle in our country that’s very sobering.”
On her home cooking: “I make really homey food. Just the other night I did a roast chicken with butternut squash and brown sugar. And I did brown rice and some roasted broccoli. I make a wheat pizza once a week. When my daughter is the hungriest, that’s when I try to have vegetables out for her to snack on while I’m finishing dinner. So I don’t start with putting her favorite thing in front of her, I start with putting some snap peas or broccoli with dip or carrots to get her going. I rarely do take-out. I like to be in charge of what we eat. I’m a control freak that way!”
On raising her kids in the spotlight: “I feel like they have a very normal upbringing. It’s too bad that there aren’t laws that protect their privacy, but that’s a whole other thing. They do have things that are really exciting for them and strange for them, I’m sure. Like living in a different place for a while then going back home. But kids have that with parents with all different jobs so I try not to look at it as something that is a problem. But kids are kids, they think whatever goes on in their lives is normal and I think that my kids’ lives are pretty normal.”
On what she hopes to pass on to her daughters: “It’s so important to me that they grow up with a healthy self-esteem, confidence and knowing just where to kick if they need to! You want to set the best example you can for them in every way. You want them to grow up and be proud of you.”
On the perfect day: “It’s so important to me that they grow up with a healthy self-esteem, confidence and knowing just where to kick if they need to! You want to set the best example you can for them in every way. You want them to grow up and be proud of you.”
[Images by Nikki Nelson / WENN.com]
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