Why Jennifer Garner Doesn't Apologize to Her Kids for Her Work

Jennifer Garner’s Rare Throwback Photos of Ben Affleck, Their Kids Will Warm Your Heart

Jennifer Garner is giving out some five-star advice.

The Five-Star Weekend actress explained that the reason she doesn’t apologize to her and ex-husband Ben Affleck’s kids Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14, for keeping busy with new projects is because “work is part of life.”

“I get so much joy from what I do,” Garner said during a July 13 appearance on Today With Jenna & Friends. “I really believe that any job I've had I've really loved getting in there and doing the best—I mean, I like to work. I'm a worker bee.”

So, the 13 Going on 30 star learned to accept that she’s allowed to be a mom with a busy work calendar.

“When they were younger, I struggled with it so much,” the 54-year-old continued, “but now that they're older they're like, ‘Thank you for showing us that work is something to be enjoyed.’ It doesn't have to just be tedious all the time.”

And while Garner emphasized that it’s easy to love what she does because she has “a pretty great job,” she noted she wants everyone to freely embrace their careers.

“Let go of the guilt,” she pleaded. “It doesn’t serve anyone.”

Previously, the Alias alum shared what she does instead of apologizing to her kids.

Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

“I do thank them for being so sweet about [me working],” she told InStyle in an interview published June 3. “But that’s part of life. Working hard is part of life, and messing up is part of life. Tripping and falling—there’s room for all of it.”

In fact, Garner is honest about learning to be a parent as you go along. As she put it, “You have to raise yourself at the same time.”

“Just be so radically kind to yourself about how imperfect it is,” she continued. “And that it is just going to be imperfect. There’s no such thing as balance. There’s no such thing as doing it right.”

And it’s that radical acceptance that she believes her kids need to see.

“When the big moments happen, you are OK,” she said, “and that’s on you to know and understand so your child feels your okayness.”

Read on for what else Garner has said about being a mom to her three kids.

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