Jennifer Garner explains why she doesn't give in to 'working mom guilt': 'You’re their mom forever'

Jennifer Garner understands that it's easy to get “freaked out” as a busy parent, especially as a working mother but she doesn't let it pull her down. The "Elektra" star recently admitted to Access Hollywood that it’s easy to fall into the trap of mom guilt when you have a job or other obligations outside of your kids. Still, she's learned how to be intentional and mindful. 

"We're told constantly, 'You have 18 summers. You have this much time. Time is fleeting,' and it makes you panic," she said, noting that she instead leans into wherever she is. "And my mom has always said to me, 'You're their mom forever. Don't worry, you can do your job. Your kids are gonna be so proud of you.'"

The 51-year-old mother-of-three added, “If you come from a place of expansiveness instead of feeling just like, ‘I can’t be a mom because I’m also working and I’m supposed to be guilty all the time,’ you better just lean into wherever you are, any day, right now, just be there when your kids show up and we’ll have a great time."

The “13 Going on 30” star noted that there are times when she’s “fully around” and there are times when she isn’t, because of work. It is sometimes difficult to balance it all but it's important to take care of yourself as a mom too. “However your ‘balance’ looks, just give yourself some grace,” she said.

Garner and her ex-husband Ben Affleck share three kids—Violet, 17, Seraphina, 14, and Samuel, 11. The former couple was married for over 10 years since 2005. They split in 2015 and finalized their divorce in 2018.

Over the years she's learned how to be a better parent, admitting that she's been learning from her mistakes along the way.  “We didn’t have the eyes on us that our kids have. I was such a first-time mom. My eldest daughter didn’t have a shot. She couldn’t have a free thought—I was all over her. I was a nightmare for everyone around me,” Garner confessed to Allure for the magazine's cover story earlier this year.

With time she learned that it was important for children to be free to become who they want to be. “Your kids will figure out who they are and what they are when they’re older, and most likely they will hew toward lovely,” she said. “I have a lot of faith in my kids. I don’t love every behavior all the time, always. It’s gnarly growing up.”

But she does have certain rules for her kids: none of them are allowed to be on social media just yet. Speaking to TODAY in April, Garner described to hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb how she manages to keep her three teenage children off social media. “I just said to my kids, ‘Show me the articles that prove that social media is good for teenagers, and then we’ll have the conversation’,” she said. “Find scientific evidence that matches what I have that says that it’s not good for teenagers, then we’ll chat.”

Her kids don't even protest anymore... Well, at least her eldest is glad according to Garner who claimed that Violet has enjoyed living life outside of social media. “My eldest is grateful,” Garner said. “It’s a long haul. I have a couple more to go, so just knock on the wood. We’ll see if I really hang in there.”