Actress Jennifer Garner recognized for her role in “13 Going on 30,” took to Instagram on Thursday to mark an emotional milestone involving her three children: Violet, aged 18, Fin, aged 15, and 12-year-old Samuel, whom she shares with ex-husband Ben Affleck.
In a heartfelt post, the devoted mother shared a letter she had written to Samuel’s teachers as he bid farewell to middle school. With Samuel being the youngest child, his departure marks the end of an era for the Garner-Affleck family at the school, which had also nurtured Violet and Fin during their formative years.
Clearly moved by this transition, Jennifer expressed her emotions openly. She wrote: “Dearest Teachers. Thank you for caring about my children with me, for tying their shoes and holding their hands.
“Thank you for disciplining my kids when they’ve needed it and for offering more hugs than some children receive in a lifetime. Thank you for all of the hard work that goes into having high expectations, for buckling down and teaching them the discomfort and joy of tolerating frustration toward a greater good.
“Thank you for choosing to study and become educators and for doing your jobs with your whole heart. I’m sure that the demands and frustrations of the classroom can obfuscate the mission behind your place in it, but what’s more noble than teaching children – not a lot, as far as I can tell.
“Thank you for being a safe haven for my family, the world is a lot for anyone and so many children struggle with real loss and hardship that it feels selfish to want more for kids who have so much. But I wanted my three to have a safe space where they could focus on the business of being little, and where education and character were prioritized.
“What I didn’t know to want: teachers who were willing to dress up on a theme for Halloween, to wait with bated breath for Zero the Hero, to choose the perfect book/ science project/ Spanish song, to travel with forty kids, to play hockey at lunch, to spend months working towards an art fair or performance or the incredible feat of filling in a globe with its countries and capitals.
“Thank you for a beautiful thirteen years. I cannot imagine our family landing anywhere better. With deep respect and endless gratitude, Jen.”
In the caption, Jennifer then wrote: “A little gratitude for our wonderful family elementary school at the end of 13 years together applies to all educators: thank you for doing what you do. And congratulations to all the mamas out there with kids moving from one phase to the next.”
