Anyone who follows Eva Mendes on Instagram has been missing out on new content for the past month, and there's a good reason why. In a post on Jan. 23, Mendes explained that she took a social media break after her daughter pointed out that she's on her phone too often.
"I haven't posted lately because my little one told me I was on the phone too much," the 46-year-old actor wrote alongside a re-post from Latinx Parenting. "I could tell she was taking it personally. And she's a kid, of course she'd take it personally."
Mendes didn't share which of her two daughters was the one to call her out on her online habits, but she shares six-year-old Esmeralda and four-year-old Amada with partner Ryan Gosling.
Read on to see what else Mendes had to say about decreasing her screen time for the sake of her children. And for more on celeb parenting, check out Jada Pinkett Smith Regrets Doing This One Thing With Her Kids.
Read the original article on Best Life.
She wants to be more present for her kids.
Mendes realized that if her daughter thinks she's on her phone too much, then there had to be some truth to it.
Continuing her Instagram caption, Mendes wrote, "[Kids] take things personally unless we go out of our way to make it clear to them it's not personal. So we had good talk, I apologized and I promised her I'd be mindful. I realized that just because I'm always home with them doesn't mean I'm always present."
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She thinks kids should be able to "call out" their parents.
Along with her caption about her daughter, Mendes re-posted a quote from the account Latinx Parenting. It reads, "Let your kids call you out. It's not disrespect. It's healthy. Kids can be so fiercely aligned with their value that they will take nothing less than the respect they deserve. They will take no BS. Not even from you. Congratulations, you are raising an empowered child."
In her caption, Mendes wrote, "Thank you to @latinxparenting for this important reminder."
To check out another famous family, read Tim McGraw Shares Rare Photo of His Three Daughters With Faith Hill.
But not all of her followers agreed.
Many of Mendes' followers were happy to have the parenting reminder, too. The Place Beyond the Pines star received numerous comments from parents who said they are trying to empower their kids to speak up and be independent, and she responded to a lot of them. One parent said she had a "wow moment" when her daughter drew a picture of her with her phone in her hand. Mendes wrote back, "I hear you!!! Mine had a coffee and a phone." Fellow actor Viola Davis also commented with two fist bumps and two yellow heart emoji.
But Mendes also received some comments from parents who don't agree with the advice. She responded to a few of them, but thanked one person who disagreed for at least stating their opinion nicely. The commenter wrote, "Wow! SMH!! Glad we live in this beautiful country we're [sic] people can agree to disagree." Mendes replied, "Absolutely. And thanks for saying that nicely and not going dark like some other comments here. Lotsa love to you and thanks again for the comment."
And for a celebrity parent getting backlash from his own kids, check out Dwyane Wade's Kids Are Not Happy About His Revealing Birthday Photo.
Mendes doesn't talk about her family often.
Mendes and Gosling keep their private life private, but now and then Mendes will talk about their kids in interviews, or reference them on Instagram. In May, she captioned the photo above with makeup and marker smeared all over her face, "They've won." And in an October story in the Sydney Morning Herald, Mendes shared how parenting was going during a pandemic.
"Sometimes it feels like we are running some kind of bed-and-breakfast with very drunk and aggressive guests," Mendes joked. "We really do feel like we are working in a hotel, and the guests are angry and bossy and demand food brought to them. And by the time they go to sleep, we're left to just clean up and talk about how they've treated us that day!"
And for another celebrity family in lockdown, check out Heidi Klum Just Posted a Rare Photo of All Four of Her Kids Together.
