Jennifer Garner made headlines last week with an Instagram post about her children’s return to school. It was heartfelt and summed up how a lot of parents are feeling this year, when we’re sending our children back to school in unprecedented times. I’m going to quote it here because it’s worth reading:
The school year starts in dribs and drabs, but today’s the real deal for my family—we are back. 3/3 masked, 2/3 vaxxed (soon, please, 11 and under), every one eager, tentative, bold, vulnerable and—as far as I can tell—smiling under the 3-ply. Thank you teachers, thank you administrators, thank you school staff—for being on the receiving end of a year and a half of feelings (kids’ and parents’)—big and loud, quiet and deep. Thank you science for getting us this far and this much closer to health and freedom. Thank you for moms in your corner and gallows humor and the sun that rises, no matter what. And please, God, hold us in the palm of your hands.
Not only did Garner say that her eligible children are vaccinated and her youngest Samuel, 9, will be as soon as the vaccines are approved for his age group, she also came out pro-mask and pro-teachers. She thanked the school staff, scientists and she thanked other moms. Plus she added a little Christianity and prayer in there. This was a short post that said a lot about who she is and it’s impressive.
The Garner-Afflecks live in Los Angeles county, where the school district has mandated vaccines for ages 12 and older and thankfully where cases are falling. Garner realizes how privileged her family is. She recently flew to Washington, D.C. to visit a children’s Afghan refugee center as part of her work with Save The Children. Garner has worked with that organization for over a decade. Save The Children has a family center set up for Afghan refugees at Dulles Airport, where they provide clothing, diapers, supplies and a safe space for children and mothers particularly. Garner posted a video of her visit there, that’s below. I’m including the caption, which explains more about Save The Children’s work in DC. I got choked up watching this!
Now it may just be a coincidence that this visit coincides with her ex’s recent red carpet appearance. She does so much work with Save The Children and she’s visited their centers before. She took her costar, Edgar Ramirez, to one of their shelters on the Arizona border in May.
Jesus. That made me cry.
Me too, and not even a dignified few tears. I sobbed a little bit.
I love what she wrote and co-sign every word. I have 3 vaxxed kids and I’m very worried about everyone’s health. My sister’s best friend, who is a teacher, just got a breakthrough case of Covid. She’s very careful and always masked. She can’t figure out how she got it. I’m starting to believe that if you come in contact with the Delta variant, you will get sick. Even if you are vaxxed. I’m feeling like Fall 2021 will resemble Fall 2020, and it scares me.
I am one of the people the right would say is “still living in fear”. Because I have a kid with asthma so I worry everyday that one of us will get sick. My kids are wearing masks at school and everyone in my home who is of age is vaxxed.
Masks aren’t mandatory where I live and I see about 50/50 people wearing or not wearing. I’m just gonna mask until this is done.
Does anyone here know the style of the mask she’s wearing? They look more comfortable than the ones I have that are super close to my face.
I’ve gotten these from Amazon. I just buy the black but they have other colors.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JQN25FR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_18CXGJYPN1ABJCY91Z2M?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
It looks like the K95 mask I get. I love it. I tested many types of masks and this is hand down the most comfortable and I feel like it’s the most effective. It fits very snug.
It looks exactly like the N95 ones we just ordered but mine are super tight on my face…. like even my 10 yr old found it to be tight.
I find them very uncomfortable, also,
Looks like a N95. Use the N95 NIOSH under a surgical mask, especially when I’ll be in crowds (like voting)
Thanks for the info guys, I really appreciate it!
She’s a good one. ❤️
I LOL😂 and am always amazed🤗 at how her’s and Ben’s priorities differ, like, how did they even manage to stay together for that long, leave alone have 3 kids together? Like, really? So bizarre, go Jen.👏🏾
Babsong, I’m a former and recovering Ben fan and he was always very attuned to politics and Activism with his Congo initiatives etc. Then for some reason when Trump was elected he became radio silent on politics, when we really could have used his voice. I do so appreciate her post on vaccinating and masking her kids, and appreciation for teachers. I’m a teacher in Texas who had to leave my profession because most parents here aren’t like her.
I know, sometimes it seems unbelievable they were together as long as they were. I think she tried to be a stabilizing force for Affleck and it seemed to have worked for awhile. But they were not suited and tbh, I think Ben is STILL a self-sabotager and will sabotage the relationship with Jlo too. But only time will tell.
Trump coincided with Ben’s own life falling apart in a very public way. He was one of the top fundraisers in the country for Hilary’s campaign, and continued to make contributions to Dems down ballet during the Trump era.
He’s been pro vacation too, appearing at that concert with Jimmy Kimmel.
My thoughts went there too. She seems like an every day person – not affected by what she is exposed to on a daily basis. And I applaud her for being the way she is. She is way out of Ben’s leaugue.
She is getting a lot of support and kudos for this and it is deserved.
She really is. Such a sweetheart.
Wonderful post about school. My sister is 12 and I am so very grateful she’s been vaccinated. I still worry for her and her friends and teachers, but feel better with their stance on masking.
Jennifer’s work with Save the Children is a great endeavor. Thankful to organizations like it that are helping to ease the transitions for all of the Afghan refugees.
She’s a classy lady. Very articulate, she puts meaningful words together so beautifully. She really walks the walk, with all her work. I love Jen.
I’ve always liked her so much. She seems genuinely sweet and down to earth, and most importantly, like someone who adores her kids and loves being a mom.
I had no idea LA had mandated vaccines for eligible kids — that is AWESOME.
She seems like a genuinely good human being. Ben never deserved her. I just hope all the Afghan refugees are welcomed with open arms. They’ve been through a lot.
I wasn’t expecting to cry reading this post, but here I am. Her thoughts on back to school mirror mine, except my two are too little for vaccinations (hurry up!!). It’s been a hard year already.
I think bringing attention to how we are and need to care for arriving refugees is a good use of her celebrity capital. Good on you Jennifer!
I just love her! A class act all the way. You can tell how much she genuinely loves kids. 😍
Yes, she would be a wonderful teacher.
She is such a nice person and such an educated celebrity in this moment we need examples.
I really wish she was in better movies and maybe (fingers crossed) ended up in a Marvel project with Mark Ruffalo. They had such great chemistry in “13 Going On 30” and she can do both comedy and action, it would be fun!
yes I loved Jenna rink! and alias. I think if she’s in the right project for her she really shines, I’d love to see a new one off Alias movie just to see where Sydney is and what she’s doing 🙂
Yes olyphant! Isabella Vaughn should be around 16 now and ready to at least begin training with her parents for special assignments!
She would have been a great addition to the MCU. Imagine her in Ant woman instead of Evangeline Lilly. She has such a warmth. But she was tending a drunk man child and trying to raise her children among that. If Ben had any self awareness, he would realize that uncomplicated, surface level JLo is where he is happiest and stop trying to claw back to Serious and Respectable, Intellectual types.
This is lovely. She is a lovely, caring woman with a lot of intelligence and empathy.
Gosh… they should rename Dulles airport though. The havoc that family wreaked on the world and the horrible irony of refugees being there when they patented the interventionist style is gobsmacking.
I mean–Jen has done so much good work in her native West Virginia, does a lot of great work with kids in need all of over the world. I am so impressed with how she gives back. It just becomes more and more clear that Ben was just so very far behind her in terms of evolved compassion (also in being a basic grownup). I wish her wonderful things in life.
Too right about Dulles Airport name.
As a school nurse who deals with parents who are the exact opposite of her everyday, this made me cry. My son has 1 of the 2 pfizer because he just turned 12, he wears a mask and said that won’t stop even after he’s fully vaxxed. I’m super worn down from dealing with people who politicize the issue, who don’t believe in science, who feel it’s appropriate to curse school staff over covid guidelines. I’m genuinely shocked at the simultaneous decision not to vax/ wear a mask and demand to end all restrictions imposed by an actual pandemic.
What I don’t understand is how do those people think the pandemic will end? I don’t understand their way of thinking. If you don’t get vaxxed, don’t wear masks, don’t follow safety guidelines, etc….how on earth is this going to end? What is their solution? Just let everyone get sick and die? There are more stupid people on this earth than I thought. Kids in school 50 years from now are going to be shaking their heads reading about this pandemic in their history books.
I’ve wondered about this too – just because you’re bored of the pandemic doesn’t mean you can declare it’s over. I think part of it has to be a belief in natural immunity and arrogance that if they get covid, it’ll be mild.
On the political side, I think R’s want to sabotage Biden’s response to say that any president would have struggled to manage covid in 2020 and it wasn’t because trump was horribly unqualified in every single way.
Not sure what mask she’s wearing but I highly recommend the under armour sport masks! They are sooo comfortable! I use the regular but my husband uses the lightweight version that recently came out and he loves it!
Such a heartfelt statement! I really appreciate her words. Preschool speech pathologist here who spent all summer asking (some) parents who wanted to observe therapy to please put their masks back on their face. Very glad to have most of my kids in a classroom this fall with some able to wear masks as well. Still it is nerve wracking to know not all co-workers are vaccinated, but at least there will be weekly testing.
My kid went back to school in early August. I’m actually not *that* worried about him individually because we live in an area where most people wear masks and vaccinations rates for 12+ are high. The school is also doing twice weekly pool testing of each class (funded by the state). I was talking to a co-worker in a redder part of our state and he was predicting that our school’s testing policy would result in loads of positive results and missed class time because of asymptomatic cases (which he seemed to think should basically be ignored? I didn’t follow his logic completely). I pointed out that we’ve been at it for a month and no class has had a positive result yet. Basically, science works! If everyone wears a mask in public and everyone who can vaccinate does vaccinate, school is pretty safe. Obviously masking isn’t fun, but my son would definitely rather wear a mask to school over staying home all semester.
I admire the charity work she does and using her platform to promote vaccination which is extremely important. From a celebrity gossip standpoint i find it so interesting that she (or her instagram team because celebs usually have someone who runs their page) has posted these posts after all the venice film festival bennifer red carpet commotion. I do have to say that people think Jlo’s PR works hard but JGarner’s PR team is working just as diligently. Each of them has cultivated a persona to keep up with a brand they are selling and its pretty fascinating.