Eva Mendes says she’s ‘bringing boredom back’ for her children this summer

‘I really feel like when we’re bored—not stimulated by a phone, or an iPad, or computer or television—that’s when ideas come in,’ the actor says.

Eva Mendes has opened up about motherhood and how she’s “bringing boredom back” for her daughters, Esmeralda, seven, and Amada, six, whom she shares with her long-time partner Ryan Gosling.

The 48-year-old actor discussed her summer plans during an interview with Byrdie, where she shared that she and her family had recently spent a few months in London, as Gosling was filming there.

Mendes said that while in London, she went on a “ton of field trips” with her children, but now that she’s home, she wants to bring some “boredom” back into her own and her children’s lives.

“When we were in London, we went from musical to musical taking advantage of being back in the theatre, we went to all kinds of museums, we went to Windsor Castle—I had a ton of field trips planned for them, which we did,” she continued. “And now I feel like it’s time to bring boredom back. I’m bringing boredom back, especially for kids, but for myself as well.”

She says that through being “bored,” people become more inspired to come up with different “ideas”.

“I really feel like when we’re bored—not stimulated by a phone, or an iPad, or computer or television—that’s when ideas come in,” the model added. “Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s dangerous, and sometimes it’s enlightening. I really want it to be the summer of boredom.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Mendes explained how “important” it is for her and Gosling to make their children feel confident in themselves, as that feeling will then “feed into every area of” their lives.

“Hopefully Ryan and I are doing the work by just loving them, completely loving them, and doing most of that work for them so that they grow up feeling like they’re enough,” she said. “That’s the one thing that’s really important to me. Because once they feel like they’re enough, no matter what they do, no matter what they end up doing, that will feed into every area of your life. Especially into how attractive you feel, or any of that stuff.”

Along with educating them about “what [they] eat and what [they] put into [their] bodies,” the Ghost Rider star said that one of her biggest rules for her children is letting them wear what they want, “as long as it’s appropriate”.

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This isn’t Mendes’ first time opening up about how she raises her children. She spoke to Forbes last month about showing her daughters that there are “no gender-specific roles” in her relationship, since she and Gosling are “partners”.

“I’m not an amazing cook - I leave that to Ryan,” she explained. “Hopefully it’s showing my girls that there are no gender-specific roles that one must take on and that we are partners in this and that we’re all partners in this, not just Ryan and I, but our children as well.”