Life according to… Yes Day star Jennifer Garner

The actress and mum of three explains how one day every year when she says yes to her children’s requests led to her starring in a new movie, Yes Day

How did you first hear about Yes Day?

I read the book to my kids, and my middle daughter just loved this calendar in it that says all the nos, and at the end it says “Yes” on the last day.

You’ve been doing Yes Day with your kids for almost a decade – does it not get out of hand?

It’s very easy to think of Yes Day as only being over the top but I really have learned over nine years of doing Yes Days that it’s the little things. Like, “When the car is parked, can I put my head out of the sunroof?” “Can I sit in the front seat and turn all the knobs?” You don’t even realise how many nos are implied in a kid’s life, because they’ve heard it so many times they’ve stopped asking. So it’s just letting that free and having a little bit of fun – staying up late, choosing the cereal at the grocery store.

What do your children ask for?

For my kids, it’s stopping at a gas station and letting them get junk food and lottery tickets, things like that. And it’s the energy of giving your entire attention to your kids for an entire day with a whole lot of yes, yes, yes – that is what it’s really about. Although the big stuff is fun, too.

When do you have your family’s Yes Day?

We have ours in August, almost always, at the end of summer when I’ve run out of anything fun to do and they just need to go back to school, and we are trying to fight our way there. Having a s’more (sweet treat) in the backyard all together and playing flashlight tag and then going to sleep in a tent, it’s just that you’ve earned the feeling of cosiness by the end of the day that is special.

How has home life been during the pandemic?

After dinner every night the kids and I sit on the couch together. I make popcorn, and we watch two episodes of The Office (the US version). We watched it all the way through and then we went back and watched it again. It’s a little too mature for my son and I never allow screen time during the week, but that has been my yes. We just finished it and my kids want to watch it again and I’m like: “There are other comedies, I promise, we can find something else you’ll love.”

But if that is what feels good to them right now, then we will go back to the beginning.

Yes Day is available now on Netflix