Ben Affleck doesn't want his kids to act before they are 18.

The 44-year-old hunk - who has Violet, 11, Seraphina, eight, and Samuel, five, with estranged wife Jennifer Garner - was just seven years old when he began his own career and though he has no regrets about the past, he wouldn't want his brood to experience the "downside" of fame until they are old enough to make their own decisions.

"If they are 18 and they want to make those choices and do that kind of thing, that's fine. But being a child actor, I just know too much of the downside of what that can be like."

However, the 'Accountant' star doesn't think he'd have enjoyed the success he has as an adult if he hadn't began his own career so young.

He admitted: "I had some great rewards, and I probably wouldn't have made it as an adult had I not built up that body of work as a kid, so it's a strange thing. My kids would be good in the school play. If they can handle that, they're in good shape."

Ben also believes that being thick-skinned has helped him deal with the failures along the way in his career.

He said: "You know you have to have a certain thickness of skin in this business because success and failure, as a performer, are really two sides of the same coin.

"You're putting yourself out there and being evaluated, and it doesn't go one way, all the way, every time."