The Strict Parenting Rule Jennifer Lopez Made Her Children Follow

Jennifer Lopez has admittedly had a busy love life. "I've been married a few times," she laughed in a 2021 interview with "Today." To be exact, J.Lo has said "I do" four times and said "yes" a whooping six, including twice to Ben Affleck, Town & Country noted. But, only one of those relationships produced offspring. Lopez married Marc Anthony in 2004, two years before they started a family. In February 2008, Lopez gave birth to twins Emme and Max, People reported.

When Lopez became pregnant, she knew right away. The singer was in Portugal for a show when she found out about the pregnancy. "I was in my hair and makeup trailer and here's what I felt — in my belly I felt a flutter ... immediately I knew I had life inside me," she told her children in a 2019 YouTube video (via the Daily Mail). But she had no idea how much life she was actually carrying. "I was like WHATTTT!!! and I start laughing hysterically — I just laughed out loud. I couldn't believe it," she said of the moment the sonographer told her the news.

Caring for infant twins was no walk in the park, she told Emme and Max. "I wanted to jump out of the window so many different times because when one of you cried and the other one cried I was like, 'ahhhhh what do I do?'" But motherhood became progressively more manageable. J.Lo even found ways to enforce a rather challenging rule. 

Jennifer Lopez had her children mere months after Apple released the first iPhone. Emme and Max know no world where entertainment isn't within reach 24/7. Yet, Lopez managed to raise them with limited screen time. YouTube videos at dinnertime? Not at J.Lo's. Emme and Max were only allowed to use gadgets once a week. "Sunday Funday, they work towards that because they don't get to use their iPads during the week," she told E! News in 2015, when the kids were 7.

Tablets weren't the only gadget the twins weren't allowed to use during the week. "[They don't get to] play video games or anything because it's school time," she added. "And they have to be good in school and then they get Sunday Funday. It's something I made up so they could work towards it." Lopez is a firm believer in teaching children the value of what they have.

But she wants them to learn those values without the harsh circumstances she had to face. "I wanted to give them a life that I didn't have, but they don't get to have the experience of something that is also helpful, which is developing that survivalist mentality," she told Vogue in November. But she wasn't overly strict on the screen time rule because she understands a mom needs a break. "They get to play with [their iPads] as much as they want that day," she told E! News. "And I get to lay down."

After experiencing success in the early aughts, Jennifer Lopez went through some quiet years, until 2011, when she returned to prominence as a judge on "American Idol" and with the release of her album "Love?" Slate pointed out. She attributes the uptick in her career to the birth of Emme and Max. "The kids, honestly, just gave me a new direction," she told People's Jess Cagle in 2016. "They just made me realize, like, what was real and what wasn't real and what was — they just changed everything." In her motherhood journey, J.Lo has worked to leave the harsher part of her upbringing behind. "I really wanted to find a better way than having to put the fear in them," she told Vogue. "It's like, I can hold a boundary with you but also be your ally." 

In 2017, Lopez penned a tribute to the twins to celebrate their birthday. "I cant believe its 9 years ago today that God entrusted me with the biggest blessings of my life... I immediately felt bonded, protective, overwhelmed with emotion and like the luckiest woman on this earth," she wrote on Instagram (via Us Weekly). "And I've felt that way everyday since." Lopez often uses Instagram to share the bond she has with Emme and Max. "I only hope I can be half of the blessing you have been to my life," she captioned a February 2022 video marking their 14th birthday.