Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes have kept their daughters out of the spotlight since they first became parents over a decade ago.

The couple — who have been together since 2011 — first met while filming The Place Beyond the Pines and have since welcomed two children: daughters Esmeralda Amada and Amada Lee. Gosling and Mendes stay fairly tight-lipped about their personal lives, especially regarding their daughters.

“I have always had a clear boundary when it comes to my man and my kids. I’ll talk about them of course, with limits, but I won’t post pictures of our daily life,” Mendes wrote on Instagram. “Since my children are still so little and don’t understand what posting their image really means, I don’t have their consent. And I won’t post their image until they’re old enough to give me consent.”

In August 2023, a source told PEOPLE that Gosling and Mendes are “hands-on parents and have little help.” The insider added, “When they are not working, they are all about their girls.”

Gosling echoed that while talking to Variety in February 2024. “It’s going super fast. I hear the clock ticking,” he said, referring to time with his daughters. “I don’t know how much time I’m going to get and I don’t want to spend it in the wrong place. I know I’m not spending it in the wrong place if I’m with family.”

Here’s everything Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes have said about their kids: daughters Esmeralda and Amada.

Esmeralda Amada Gosling, 11

Gosling and Mendes’ first child, Esmeralda Amada, was born in Santa Monica, California on Sept. 12, 2014. The couple kept news of their pregnancy a secret for as long as possible, with a source telling PEOPLE that Mendes “just hasn’t ever wanted anyone beyond her close friends and family knowing more than they had to.”

When Esmeralda was born, it was love at first sight for the new parents. “Ryan is madly in love with the baby,” an insider told PEOPLE at the time. “[Mendes is] absolutely in heaven being a mom. She’s never been happier … She and Ryan are just in awe of this beautiful person they created. It’s a really special time for them.”

Mendes also stepped away from acting temporarily to be a stay-at-home mom, a role she described as “way harder” than her acting career. “People are so sweet — they really try to warn you, prep you, when you’re pregnant, but nobody can prep you. Nobody,” she said during an October 2019 episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show.

While Mendes took a break to focus on family, Gosling still went to work — and it paid off. A few years after becoming a father, Gosling won a Golden Globe for his performance in La La Land and thanked his partner and daughters in his acceptance speech.

“While I was singing and dancing and playing piano … my lady was raising our daughter, pregnant with our second and trying to help her brother fight his battle with cancer,” he said. “Sweetheart, thank you. To my daughters, Amada and Esmeralda, I love you.”

Amada Lee Gosling, 9

Mendes and Gosling welcomed their younger daughter, Amada Lee, on April 29, 2016.

Amada is named after Mendes’ grandmother; the moniker also means “beloved” in Spanish.

According to Mendes, she and Gosling have the same parenting style: “controlling.”

“I think what the term is — we’re always laughing at these terms — I think we would be ‘bulldozing parents,’ ” she said on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “We have to be on top of them every second … The stakes are really high, so yeah, I’m a helicopter parent. And then I heard the bulldozing and I’m like, ‘Ooh, yeah, I’m probably a bulldozing parent too.’ ”

Mendes has also shared that she finds her kids “inspiring” because of their freedom and creativity. “They’ll just be like, ‘Can I wear socks on my hands today?’ ” she told PEOPLE in September 2019. “And I’m like, ‘Yes, of course you can wear socks on your hands today.’ So we make that happen.”

She continued, “Or they’ll get a Halloween costume that we have hanging out and they’ll wear that with pajama pants and a headband, and it’s so cool.”

Both Gosling and Mendes’ daughters were young when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, and keeping the girls home in quarantine was a challenge they shared with parents everywhere.

“Trying to keep things light at home with my two little ones,” she captioned a video of a vinyl record. “Nothing like some old Cuban music to do the trick. And yes that’s my 3-year-old [Amada] on the piano. I think she thinks the music is coming from her. And I’m not about to correct her.”

Mendes has been vocal about fostering creativity and giving her kids artistic freedom, telling Byrdie in July 2022, “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. Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s dangerous, and sometimes it’s enlightening. I really want it to be the summer of boredom.”