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In the July/August 2026 cover story of BETTER HOMES & GARDENS, Jennifer Garner opens up about the family traditions that strengthen her, the lessons she learned from her parents about kindness and forgiveness, and why making time with the people you love (even if it’s 6 a.m.!) is so important.
In her one unique request for Mother’s Day this year:
For Mother’s Day this year, Jen asked her kids for something simple: to pile into the loft and let them read their favorite childhood books out loud again. “They said, ‘Mom.’ And I say, ‘I know, but I think I need that. You have to let me.’”
When he makes time for his female friendships, even at 6am:
“I feel like I tend to ramble— ‘sorry, I’m busy.’ But when I’m at home and there’s free time, I’ll find time for my girls. It may be 6 in the morning, but I will see my friends.”
When you feel like a ‘guest’ in their home during busy work hours:
“When I work, I feel like a guest in the house [the kids] they have woken up. I kiss them when I get home. I might have dinner with them, and say, ‘I’m sorry, I have to read the lines and go to bed.’
On life after her oldest daughter went to college:
“We miss her so much. When Violet calls or FaceTimes, we’re all on the phone.”
“I remember when my older sister left, my younger sister and I communicated in a different way, my mother and I communicated in a different way, I can see that happening. [with Fin and Sam]and there is fun in that.”
In what he hopes his children will take from their childhood:
“I hope they appreciate humor. Laughing your way through it, loving people about it, finding the funny. And I hope they take music and books [with them].”
On what he learned from his parents:
“They met people who thought well of themselves, thinking they would love themselves and find love from them. I think this is a gift.”
“If you mess up, if you get out of shape, if you burn something, if you forget to pick up your child—which I might do one day—just say, ‘Whoa. Get over it as soon as you can. It’s not helpful.”
Where he found his tribe:
“[I’ve] he has never been a person who has been in the middle of a social group. The only place where I really have a tribe is set up because I’ve worked with the same group of people for 25 years. And I’m just one of the cogs in the wheel. We go into a new product and we’re like, ‘What’s going on?’”
In his estimation:
“You can’t live a balanced life every day, but you can if you look at the seasons.”
In choosing the right projects:
“I feel that the projects made for me are the ones that come up.
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