S
producer,author and Oscar win-
nerandbeen called one of the
most inf luential people in the
world, but Reese Witherspoon has
much more modest goals when it
comes to being a mom. She’d just like her kids
— Ava, 19, Deacon, 15, and Tennessee, 6 — to
pick up after themselves. “I feel like I’m al-
ways telling people to clean up. ‘Put your dish-
es in the dishwasher, put your clothes in the
laundry, come on now,’ ” she reveals.
Raising a family the hands-on way isn’t
glamorous, but it keeps the Big Little Lies star
grounded. After all, awards don’t matter when
she’s wiping a runny nose or arguing with
her teenager about borrowing the car. “No
one’s really doing it perfectly,” Reese, 43, says
of parenting. “You love your kids with your
whole heart, and you do the best you can.”OLD-FASHIONED MORALS
Using her own Tennessee upbringing as a
guide, Reese taught her children to respect
their elders, do chores around the house and
attend church. When you have a child “you
kind of look inward,” muses the star, who ad-
mits that becoming a mother made her want
to address her own f laws. “I just wanted to ex-
hibit good qualities for my daughter,” she says.
“I was a little competitive before I had kids —
probably really competitive, to be honest. It
really made me let go of that.”
Her kids think she’s doing a great job. Reese
nearly cried when Ava thanked her for being
a great mom recently. “This is the gorgeous
woman who taught me about the power of
graciousness, love, ambition and hard work,”
Ava wrote on Instagram. “She inspires me ev-
ery day to live with gratitude for the life I’ve
been given and compassion for others.” For
Reese, Ava’s acknowledgement has been the
greatest reward of all. — Louise A. BarileBEING A HANDS-ON MOM AND
ALWAYS PUTS HER FAMILY FIRST
Reese shares Ava and
Deacon with their dad, Ryan
Phillippe. She had Tennessee
with husband Jim Toth
(right) in 2012.My Kids50 August 12, 2019 CLOSER