Jennifer Garner Gives an Update on Her Family

Actress opens up about kids Violet Affleck, Seraphina Affleck and Samuel Affleck

By Zach Johnson Sep 29, 2016 2:50 PMTags

When it comes to her kids, Jennifer Garner leads by example.

The actress—mom to Violet Affleck, 10, Seraphina Affleck, 7, and Samuel Affleck, 4—hopes her actions will inspire her children be their best selves. "I don't think empathy is something you can drill in someone's head. You have to have faith that while your kids can seem to be selfish and concerned only about the word 'mine' sometimes, overall, they are watching you really carefully," Jennifer, 44, tells NBC's Today. "If you care about other people, they will, too."

It's not always easy. But, "I try to be the best version of myself and to have faith that they're watching me as carefully when I do something right as they do when I roll through a stop sign."

In spite of her busy schedule, Jennifer makes sure each child gets one-on-one time. "I try to make bedtime sacred, to have some alone time with each kid every night, when it is possible, except for the nights when it's not possible," she explains. "I work, and I have a job that means that sometimes I have to go out at night, and sometimes I need to go out at night just for me."

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Ben Affleck Calls Jennifer Garner a "Superhero Mom"
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So, what advice would she give other working moms?

"They need you to focus, and they need your attention," Jennifer says. "You never know when they are going to drop some nugget of insight into their brains that you have been waiting for."

"It's like when they were babies, and you knew they needed to burp, but they just wouldn't. You want to say to them, 'You would be so much happier if you would just burp!'" the actress adds. "It's the same when I am waiting for my kids to say something I know is bothering them. The trick now is just to be available—and in a chill way—to receive it when they finally do."

Jennifer's kids are growing up fast—faster than she would like. "We just had back to school night, and I said afterwards, 'Do they need a computer?' They need some kind of device or computer to complete their homework. Our daughter doesn't have any of those things, and she's, like, the only kid in the class who doesn't, apparently," she says of Violet. "So I found an old laptop this weekend for her, and I am kind of panicked about it. She's not on social media yet—her school has a no social media policy until sixth grade—but I know it's coming soon."

In the meantime, Jennifer and Ben Affleck are still figuring out how to co-parent as exes. As she told Today in August, "We are definitely a modern family." No matter what happens, they want to give their kids stability. "You don't have a choice," she said, adding, "We're doing really well."

(E! and NBC are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)