11 times Jennifer Lopez was a surprisingly relatable mom

Jennifer Lopez, J Lo, Jenny from the Block. However you refer to the powerhouse singer, dancer and actress, there’s one role that’s more important to her than all the rest, and that’s as Emme and Max’s mom. Lopez shares her twins, age 13, with ex-husband Marc Anthony, and she’s talked extensively over the years about how much she treasures being a mother.

While we all know Lopez is one of the hardest workers in the business, like many parents, during COVID her busy schedule came to a grinding halt and she began to appreciate the silver linings as a result of a slower routine. In an interview with Elle magazine, Lopez shared how much she appreciated the fact that she was able to have dinner with her kids every night.

“They need us in a different way,” she said. “We have to slow down and we have to connect more. And, you know, I don’t want to miss things. And I realized, ‘God. I would have missed that if I wasn’t here today.'”

So very true. There’s no doubt that J Lo is one of the coolest moms on the block, so we’ve gathered some of her quotes about motherhood all in one place.

11 times Jennifer Lopez talked about motherhood and raising kids in the most relatable way:

• “You cannot imagine what it’s like to be a mom until you are a mom. I used to give my friends who have kids advice all the time, and they would look at me like I had three heads. And then, when I had you two, the minute I had you two, I literally apologized to all my friends.”―on early motherhood

• “They just made my life so much better. I’m forever grateful that … you know, I didn’t have kids until later and so I almost thought that it wasn’t going to happen for me, so I’m very aware that I was blessed with that. It could have been something different. I don’t take it for granted one day.”―on having kids later in life

• “I love what I do. I love my kids and they come first, and everything else falls into place after that. I take it one day at a time, trying to do the best I can.”―on being a working mom

• “I think a lot about teaching my kids to work hard. I’ve learned something about kids ― they don’t do what you say; they do what you do. I watched my parents. My dad worked nights, and I was aware of how much he was doing for us. My mom was a Tupperware lady and also worked at the school. I always felt that I couldn’t let them down. And I had a natural discipline from early on. I was always training for something.”―on teaching her children to have a work ethic

• “We’re realizing, the world is realizing that women are not even coming into their own until they’re in their 40s. That they have so much to offer. That you can stay in shape, that your life is not over once you have kids and it becomes only about your kids. That to be a great mother or great parent or great woman in this world, you have to be a great individual first, you know what I mean, and that’s very empowering and we’re all realizing this.”―on balancing work, a sense of self and motherhood

• “When I was pregnant and I had my kids and they were little, everybody has advice for you. And honestly, you’re like, ‘Just leave me be and let me figure it out myself.’ Which you will, and you do. I’m just like, ‘Yay! You had a baby. She’s healthy. That’s all that matters.'”―on pregnancy

• “They are both artistic children, but you never know what avenue that’s going to take. I can hear that Emme can sing. She loves to dance and will sit there for hours watching dance, but you never know what path that’s going to take. She could be a choreographer. And I can see that Max is very comfortable in front of a camera.”―on her children’s futures as artists

• “They do something to you where you want to do everything right for them. And obviously, no parent does everything right. It’s this weird thing that happens where you are striving to be as good as you can be so that they turn out well. And that requires that you be a really great, evolved, aware person in every moment. Which is pretty awesome. But it’s also putting tremendous pressure on yourself ― which is why women feel so guilty!”―on motherhood

• “You know, I knew I had to be better. I knew I had to go higher, I knew I had to be stronger than I had been before. It was through that unconditional love that my career, that my whole life, became clearer in every way. And now, today, I stand here stronger and better than ever. So thank you, Max and Emme. There is so much more to do, and I know in my heart that the future is even brighter than anything I could have accomplished up to now because of you.”―on gratitude

• “Being a mom is my greatest joy and happiness. My biggest challenge and my greatest triumph.”―on motherhood

• “I watched them go from kind of young and naive to really, like, grown-ups to me now,’ she said. ‘They’re not our babies anymore. They’ve been given a dose of the real world, with the knowledge that things can be taken away from you and life is going to happen no matter what. They had to grow up….So did we.”―on parenting during COVID