Jennifer Garner wants her children to appreciate the simplicity of living on a farm.
The 46-year-old actress – who has Violet, 12, Seraphina, nine, and Samuel, six, with her estranged husband Ben Affleck – was brought up with an appreciation for the outdoors after her mother Pat was raised on a farm in Oklahoma, and has now said she wants her own children to understand that you don’t need material things to keep you occupied.
Interviewed alongside her mother for Southern Living magazine, Jennifer said: "I want them to know that my mother was happy and free on the farm. I want them to know that you don’t need things to keep you occupied. I think that the only real way to understand a concept like that is to live it, so I guess we’d better head to the farm more often!"
The ‘Love, Simon’ star admits it can be hard to show her brood the value of farm living when they live such different lives back home in California, but says she does her best to make sure they at least eat farm grown food.
She added: "You feel like, how can I infuse my kids’ city lives? They couldn’t have a more different life than what these guys have here. How can I give them that feeling – the freedom and the joy and the silliness? And the hard work, and the work ethic that you guys grew up with.
"I do my very best to take my cues from my mom and put good food in front of them and let it be from there. I am not always successful. Oh – and I also try to have a plate of fresh cut-up veggies on the counter for them to munch on while I am finishing dinner. Mom did that too."
And full-on farm life might be on the cards for the family in the near future.
The ‘Peppermint’ actress added: "I hope to own a home in West Virginia someday, but right now, the kids and I are so happy to go home to Grandmom and Granddad’s house that I am not in any rush."
Jennifer Garner: I want my kids to appreciate a simple life
