Jennifer Garner Shares the Parenting Tip She Got from Her Mom Pat That's 'Worth a Million Nos'

The actress is mom to kids Violet, Seraphina and Samuel with ex Ben Affleck

Jennifer Garner is revealing the sweet parenting tip she got from her mom.

The actress, 52, appeared on a recent episode of the Kelly Corrigan Wonders: About Your Mother podcast, co-hosted with Christy Turlington Burns in support of Every Mother Counts. During the episode, Garner spoke about her relationship with her mom Pat, and shared the advice she received that she now uses as a parent herself.

"My mom always says when they're being their worst, that's when they need the biggest hug. She has a lot of things she says, but one of them is, 'Anytime you can say yes, say yes, be very liberal with your yeses and save your nos. And that closing your mouth is worth a million nos.'"

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Related: Jennifer Garner Says It Only Took Her '4 or 5 Months' Total to Conceive Her 3 Kids: 'I Was Born to Breed'

"She's a big believer in just ignore, just pretend not to see. She's not one for going deep on what's hard," adds Garner.

"There's certainly been times in my life where I'll call her and I'll be going through something that is just so overwhelming for her that she will just say, 'Well, anyway,' and she changes the subject and I have to hang up and call my sisters because I've reached the end of what Mom can do."

Garner is mom to kids Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12, whom. she shares with ex Ben Affleck.

Garner's episode is part of About Your Mother, a special five-part series of Kelly Corrigan Wonders that features Corrigan and co-host Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts, with guests like Garner, Cindy Crawford, Amy Schumer and Bono, who reveal intimate details about the relationships with their moms and the life lessons those women passed on, with a goal of raising $100,000 for EMC.

In March, Garner shared with PEOPLE that her kids are giving her the most joy as she got ready to celebrate her 52nd birthday. "They're really solid right now," said the star.

"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."

Asked if it's difficult to let her kids make their own decisions, Garner admitted it's "so hard."

"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,' " she said. "I really have to sit on my hands."

Every Mother Counts works to help make pregnancy and childbirth safe for everyone, everywhere. To donate, go to everymothercounts.org/donate. Listen to the special five-part podcast series, created in partnership with Kelly Corrigan Wonders, wherever you get your podcasts.

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