Jennifer Garner admits that she doesn’t know the secrets to being a perfect mom.
Jennifer, mom to three happy kidlets, Violet, Seraphina, and Samuel, shares in a guest blog post for iVillage that she frets over the big and little decisions and doesn’t know it all when it comes to motherhood. The Odd Life of Timothy Green star shared:
“Did you watch the Olympics and vow to double up on your Judo prodigy’s lessons to increase your odds of sitting in the stands of the 2024 Olympics, weeping at their efforts finally coming to fruition? Did you cry every time NBC cut to a parent watching their child compete? Confess! If I ever see Michael Phelps’ mother at a Subway, I will burst into hysterical tears from some kind of deep sense memory.
Now, when you realize that your child hates the extra lessons and would rather build Star Wars Lego cities, what do you do? Do you push through until they like it again or is that too Tiger Mom? Do you let them quit and risk the future admonitions for letting them give it up — OR — do you find a Lego specialist and cross your fingers George Lucas has a seventh Star Wars up his sleeve?
This is the kind of mothering — okay, parenting — conundrum that keeps me up at night. How do I know if I’m getting it right? Isn’t it my job to parent, to encourage, to help my child define themselves? Or should I step out of the way and let them be led by their passions? Do kids understand their passions without getting past the boring fundamentals?”
Jennifer’s blog post is in reference to her role in the new film and how we as moms really get so uptight and worried about every tiny detail of our kids’ lives. She says of her latest project: “Somehow Peter Hedges, who wrote and directed the movie, understands a woman’s idea of herself as mom vs. the reality and puts it onto the screen. And when you see it, I am hoping that you will find it nice to laugh a bit and cry a bit and feel comforted by our universal uptightness.”
I think so many moms are drawn to Jennifer because she comes off as very down-to-earth compared to some Hollywood moms. We see her doing the school run every day, grocery shopping, taking the kids to the library, etc. I’m sure they have nannies and other helpers, but she is very hands-on and she’s not trying to sound like an expert, selling us a “this is how you raise perfect kids” book.
You can read her whole article at iVillage.
