Jennifer Garner Says She Has to ‘Sit on My Hands’ To Avoid Giving Her Kids Advice & It’s So Relatable

Sydni Ellis
·2 min read
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Watching someone crash and burn with their choices is hard enough, but when it’s your own kids? It can feel impossible not to step in with your parental wisdom. Yet that’s exactly what Jennifer Garner tries to do with her kids Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12, who she shares with ex Ben Affleck. In a new interview, she opens up about how hard she tries to hold back from giving them advice.

The Last Thing He Told Me star told PEOPLE that it’s “so hard” to let her kids make their own decisions. She continued, “I mean, my parents did too, and I’m so amazed by that. I have a really hard time not saying, ‘This is what I see you as,’ and ‘I think you should.’”

“I really have to sit on my hands,” she added.

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 01: Actress Jennifer Garner and her daughter Violet arrive for the White House state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House on December 1, 2022 in Washington, DC. The official state visit is the first for the Biden administration. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 01: Actress Jennifer Garner and her daughter Violet arrive for the White House state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House on December 1, 2022 in Washington, DC. The official state visit is the first for the Biden administration. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Especially as your kids are in their teenage years (or about to be), it can be challenging to not tell them what to do and let them find their own way instead. But it seems to be working well for Garner.

“They’re really solid right now,” she said about her kids. “I’m just watching them in this new phase of life where they’re figuring out who they’re going to be and what they’re going to study. And I’m so interested in them. All the time, I’m interested in everything about them.”

These sentiments seem to echo a previous statement the 13 Going on 30 star made about her kids. “I just really enjoy my kids,” she said in a Dec. 2023 interview on The TODAY Show With Hoda & Jenna. “I don’t know that I have some overarching [parenting] philosophy. I just think they’re such cool people, and I want to hear everything, and I want to be around.”

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 05: Jennifer Garner and her son Samuel Garner Affleck attend a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena on March 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)

Garner added, “But I also think it’s OK if they suffer from a little bit of benign neglect. Where their lives are their own. I’m not trying to live their life, and I don’t mind that they see that I love mine.”

Taking a step back may not feel natural as a parent, but it’s an important part of growing up. And like Garner’s children, your kids will be better for it!

Before you go, check out what these celeb parents had to say about their kids heading off to college.

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