Eva Mendes is "bringing boredom back" this summer.

Eva Mendes is planning a boring summer

Eva Mendes is planning a boring summer

The 48-year-old actress made sure she and daughters Esmeralda, seven, and Amada, six, had a packed agenda when they explored London earlier this year while her partner Ryan Gosling was working, but now she wants to calm things down and give the girls space to explore their own imagination.

She told Byrdie: "When we were in London, we went from musical to musical taking advantage of being back in the theater, 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.

"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.

"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."

The 'Hitch' star believes she and her 41-year-old partner are key to their daughters developing self-confidence.

She explained: "I think everything starts in the home — everything. So 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.

"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."

Eva previously explained how she hopes the home life she shares with the 'Drive' actor sets a good example to their daughters about ignoring gender stereotypes.

She said recently: "I'm not an amazing cook –– I leave that to Ryan.

"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.

"It's a team effort every day, so if they see him and I switching off doing certain things that again aren't specific to stereotypical gender things, I think that just creates balance and harmony."