Jennifer Garner attended an event this week on behalf of the charity organization she represents, Save the Children. Huggies is donating two million diapers to be distributed by Save The Children and Baby 2 Baby, which provides supplies to low-income families. This is a cause close to Garner as she’s a mom and she comes from West Virginia, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation. She supports early childhood development and childhood literacy as part of her work with Save The Children.
People got some quotes from Garner about her family and about the work that Huggies is doing to support moms.
“I’m surrounded by attitude,” Jennifer Garner, mom to Violet, 9, Seraphina, 6, and Samuel, 3, with husband Ben Affleck, jokes to PEOPLE at the Huggies Snug & Dry event.
“With the eye-rolling and the drama and the attitude. I just tell them, ‘I didn’t try to order kids with sass. How did I get all these sassy kids?’ ”
Playfulness aside, Garner, 43 — an ambassador for Save the Children — is championing aid for a very real and very serious epidemic in America. “One in three moms struggle to get diapers for their kids,” she explains.
“And studies are showing that it’s not some huge crisis that causes the stressors [for moms]. It’s the pileup of little things. It’s like revving your car engine at full speed while sitting still. Eventually it starts to run out…”
For Garner, providing for her older girls often means helping out with homework sessions. “My strengths are projects,” says the actress. “I’m the consistent quiet bugger. I bug and I make sure it gets done.”
And so far so good. “[Violet] has needed company more than she’s needed help,” Garner explains. “When she needs help, I’m going to say, ‘Go find Dad!’ ”
I know this was a quick, throwaway interview on the red carpet so I shouldn’t read much into it. However, what kind of a parental response is telling your rude kids “I didn’t try to order kids with sass“? I’m a pretty permissive parent and I teach my son that when he talks back there are consequences. Eye rolling and general attitude are one thing, but talking back results in getting something taken away. (We have a point system where he earns points for things he wants. If he misbehaves he gets points off.) So I hope Garner and Affleck have a better way of disciplining than just gently saying “you’re not supposed to do that,” but I also know it’s not my business. They’re involved parents, their kids seem happy and well adjusted despite living in a media fishbowl, and everyone has a different way of parenting.
On a superficial note, I really like Garner’s hair and wish I could get mine to fall in soft waves like that. I recently bought one of those cone curling irons hoping to achieve that look and it ended up looking like I had a 90s home perm. Also that’s a cute dress, lace overlay is really big this season, but I wish she’d chosen something in a darker color. The peach kind of washes her out.
Here are some cute photos of Garner with families at the Baby2Baby headquarters.
Goodness I think you’re reading way too much into a throw away interview at a charity event. I’ve said comments like that before out in public joking about “moody teenagers”. I doubt she was asked about her parenting philosophy. She was probably just making a mom joke.
Agreed. I feel like people tend to be harsher about actual disciplining. So she went with a cute soundbite so it doesn’t get picked up by the media and take focus from the event.
I agree. I’m sure there’s more to her discipline but it’s funnier and easier to say she didn’t order the kids that way.
Yes. Or it might be different connotations for the word “sass.” I feel like in my grandparents generation, it was definitely used in a negative way, and it did imply being mouthy and obnoxious. But these days, it’s not really used in that context as much. Or she may says it jokingly when her kids show some spunk but don’t approach rudeness. Knowing the area where she was raised and the values there, I can’t imagine she lets her kids get away with being rude.
Yeah I totally took it as a cute joke kind of thing.
The point system thing is really smart. I’ve never heard that.
And I can make my hair look really cute for 30 minutes with one of those cone curling irons, but then the curl falls out and it looks like it always does. Disappointing.
here here 🙁 mine doesn’t hold curl either no matter what product I use
I’ve given up trying at this point. My hair is so fine and won’t hold a curl for anything. I’m fairly jealous of women with thick hair that can be styled any sort of way.
If your hair is fine apply Mousse before drying, blowdry until almost dry then apply another handful of mousse. Finish drying then curl with your iron. Leave curls to set for 10 mins before styling and those babies aint going anywhere.
Digital perms, people, only way to get curls like that that last.
It’s best when your hair is dirty Gnat. Not in a gross way. I only wash my hair every other day. I have “clean hair” and “second day hair.” Second day hair is when I curl it. Clean hair has nothing in it to give your hair traction (for lack of a better word), and products can’t compare to the styling power of your hair’s own oils. Dry shampoo on second day hair gives you a little more for that curl to hold onto. Also, you have to know *how* to curl it. A lot of people start at the end of their hair and curl up toward their scalp. You should actually take a section and start a few inches from your scalp and work your way down the section, rolling, unrolling, moving down a couple inches, re-rolling, so on and so forth until you get to the end.
Totally agree with Rachael about how to curl hair. Also, for bigger waves use a one and a half inch curling iron.
Oh, ok. I never tried the second day hair. I know how to curl it, but the curl just falls out after about half an hour. So definitely, I’ll give that a try. I just wash my hair every other day anyway. Thanks so much for the instructions. That was really nice of you.
I spray my hair with sea salt spray before curling. I have super fine hair and it works great. Just don’t get your roots! I also curl my hair and let it completely cool before combing or separating my curls.
I thought the comment was funny, but I’m not a parent and no longer a kid.
I thought the comment was also funny and I am a parent! I have 3 boys: one doesn’t give me a minute of trouble and the other 2 overcompensate for that. I don’t think her comment is bad at all and seems very much like something I would say. Judge away y’all!
diapers can be pricey definitely and day cares won’t allow cloth so you must shill for disposables. this is good, but this has to be maintained. it’s kind of a drop in the bucket. you can go through a box or more a month at least, even more when they are young. even if you don’t change it at a drop of the hat.
It depends on the daycare. Some do allow cloth. But you also run the risk of the mom not having a washer to clean the diapers. Dirty Diaper Laundry does a hand washing challenge but I’m not sure how long I could do that. I agree with you about it being a drop in the bucket. I wish they had taught these women how to coupon. I follow a few coupon sites and I see a lot of deals on huggies.
Really too bad about some day cares not allowing cloth diapers. Disposables are really awful for the environment.
Funny comment, good cause…but dear lord this woman is dull! If not for her husband people would have stopped caring years ago. Sorry Sidney Bristow, I had high hopes!
Where is her career now? She is like a wife of a politician
OT: her breast seem bigger
She is filming a movie in Canada.
There is no one duller and more boring than Jennifer Garner in Hollywood. This is a great cause certainly but I also think that having children means you are able to afford to raise them. If you can’t handle them financially and provide the necessities of life, then don’t bring them into this world.
If my parents had waited until they could afford children, I wouldn’t be here…. I think the same is true for many people.
People generally figure they can manage, and usually they can. Kids don’t need designer clothes or private schools or college funds. But lots of families get into financial trouble after the kids are already born. Stuff happens. Medical expenses in the U.S. can break any family. Accidents or illnesses can even leave a previously healthy child permanently disabled and needing special care. In the U.S., this can stretch any family’s resources (financial and otherwise) to the breaking point and push people into high debt. Unemployment or underemployment happens, and unless you have family to bunk in with – you can’t just up and leave for another location to look for work. Landlords won’t rent to you without a job, which is how people end up living in their cars or in boxes. Marriages break up and many women in particular find it difficult to get work that lets them care for their young children, and the father can disappear. Daycare can use up most of a paycheck unless you have special highly-paid skills. There are so many hoops to keep jumping through in the US for government assistance that it can be exhausting, even if a family is eligible.
Anyway, it’s so much more complicated than just waiting to have kids until you can afford them, whatever “afford them” really means.
Some days, when you hear, “I ALWAYS have to be quiet while Sammy’s napping!” and “Violet ALWAYS gets the first piece of French Toast!” and “Mommy! I ALWAYS need the GREEEEEN cup!” instead of saying, “What in thee freaking hell, everybody?!?!” you say, “Where did all these sassy kids come from? I never tried to order sassy kids!”
I’m not loving her look here at all. But no shade about her comments, I think they were tongue in cheek, meant to be light and funny. Good for her for supporting such important causes.
+1
I think the dress is Ralph Lauren.
If it is, I’m SO disappointed! Wish the trend would be for a more dropped waistline. This just looks kinda juvenile.
Yeah. Amusing, cute comment. Making way too big a deal of it.
For the most part, I take People magazine “interviews” (i,e. 2 second soundbite from a celeb who is distracted and has people coming at them from all directions) with a grain of salt. Kids are not perfect and are not wind up dolls but some are more well behaved than others. If you don’t want mouthy, sassy kids don’t overindulge them and be firm with rules and boundaries.
You have to brush out the curls to get the soft waves. brush them out till they’re smooth and then leave to settle. They will fall into soft waves. Job done 🙂
Good cause, nothing else to add.
Lace overlay isn’t a new thing, its been around– but why is it so huge this season?
It is a shame that there is a shortage of diapers due to poverty in the richest country in the world. Many US-Americans who I had met liked to belittle and ridicule and trash-talk European social security systems + benefits – but they do their job by providing things like diapers to the needy. TO ALL THE NEEDY and they all get what they need.
And let’s not forget that many European social security systems + benefits were modeled on the US-American system as it were before Regan. The US system just had so many pieces chipped off it doesn’t work properly any more.
I have colleagues in many different countries, and they are routinely horrified at the lack of social safety nets here in the US. They can’t figure out how a country with so many resources can leave so many people hanging when it comes to basics like health care, housing, etc. When we compare real costs, the tax-based system for the social safety nets works out to be far more fair and cost effective. They don’t have to prove they’re poor, either, which gets rid of the humiliation built into our system.
Paying for a health care system via a reasonable percentage of taxable income, for example. Is wonderfully sensible. When you have a good job, you pay more. If circumstances change, you pay less automatically. Then if you get sick or injured, you just get the basic medical care you need, without having to go into big debt. The current system here relies on gouging the sick and the injured to pay for the overhead. Medical bills are ridiculously high as a result. Lord help you if you arrive in the ER by ambulance, that’s instant debt.
Here in the US, I had to cancel my medical insurance because as I got older, they wanted to push me out of the pool by large increases in premiums and deductibles – had to quit when it reached 53% of my income. And there was never any guarantee that insurance would even pay for anything, they can cherry pick their way through the bills. The new federal subsidy system got me covered again, but the insurance company participating in my state (as in others) narrowed its network so much for people with the subsidized policies that I would have to travel for hours to get covered non-emergency care. The local hospital (serving seven counties) and the local doctors were not on their list. They did it because they could. It was a windfall for them- they canceled many existing policies, telling people to go to the government Exchange for the subsidized policies which looked great on paper. Then the government guaranteed payment for a large chunk of the bill, paying obscene amounts of money (as high as any premiums for off-Exchange people) for a policy that now only covered emergency care locally. The U.S. medical insurance business is a protection racket that doesn’t even protect.
Wow. I don’t know where / how you’re getting insurance but insurance EXACTLY pays what it says it will in the policy. Read your policy – you’ll know what you’re paying for. I have BCBS and it does a fine job. A tad pricey- but I can budget in premiums easier than I can budget in sudden out of pocket costs.
It’s terrible that such a rich country can have people living in extreme poverty with little help. This is a very good cause.
I hate her mommy image though. I wish she didn’t have to drop her kids into every single interview she does. This may be one time where it’s appropriate but it’s all the time!!!!
I’m fine with her mommy style. Sometimes the way to handle “moments” is with humor.
I once got fed up with my daughter’s attitude and told her “I don’t know who YOU are, but you need to go away and find my daughter and bring her back, right now!” Although she was about 14 at the time, not young like Jennifer’s kids are. I totally get the joke she made about not ordering sassy kids!