Jennifer Garner can envision the perfect day to destress amid the past year.
In honor of Garner’s Netflix movie, Yes Day, she reflects on her own tradition of allowing her children, Violet, 15, Seraphina, 12, and Sam, 9, with ex-husband, Ben Affleck, 48, one day a year to do whatever they want.
And for Garner, well, it definitely involves icecream. “I wouldn’t mind ice cream for breakfast if you really think about it,” she revealed to PEOPLE in this week’s cover story.
“I would probably go to this little café, Huckleberry, and have the green eggs and ham there, which is this prosciutto and pesto and homemade English muffin. Great cappuccino, a few close girlfriends. There’d be a fun group workout. Probably a walk. Enjoy a beautiful sky. With lots of talking and then probably mix in some kid time. We all just need an adventure.”
Garner, 48, has also done her best to keep spirits high for her kids and her family sheltered at home in L.A. during the pandemic.
“I don’t know that I’ve stayed positive the whole time,” she admits. “I think I’ve had a couple of temper tantrums. And I hope [my kids] have too. I think you have to. It’s like, have your feelings. But there’s so much to be grateful for.”
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Looking for ways to lend a helping hand has benefited them all immensly. “You take a deep breath and start brainstorming about what can we do to help,” Garner adds.
“Like my daughter, she likes helping people on GoFundMe, so for Christmas, she asked for a little GoFundMe money. She said it just gives her a lift.”
When it comes to the daily annoyances most moms battle, Garner says she gets it.
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“Kids who ignore you when you talk to them five times in a row. When they’re mean to each other. Or when they won’t try and they just like, lay on the floor,” she says with a shrug. “And then I realize I basically do the same thing. I mean, sometimes you just have to walk away from your kids. You don’t even have to announce it. Or you just say, ‘Oops. Hold on. I think somebody’s calling me in the other room.’ You just have to get away.”
And when it comes to needing that moment to self-love, Garner says her girlfriends supply her with the much-needed rejuvenation time.
“And laughing. And a good workout,” she says. “I’ve done The Limit with Beth Nicely almost every day and I always feel better. I had a trainer for 20 years, Valerie Waters, who I love so much. Her saying was, ‘You’re always one workout away from a good mood.'”
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