Earlier this week, actress Eva Mendes made headlines for her thoughts on parenting. Eva, who shares two daughters, Esmeralda Amada (6) and Amada Lee (4), with actor Ryan Gosling, posted a message on spanking on Instagram, sparking debate on whether following the message is right or wrong.
“Spanking does for a child’s development what hitting a spouse does for a marriage,” the message read. The quote came after a picture of one of Mendes’s favorite Versace dresses. The actress wrote that she’s, “often asked what my favorite red carpet dress is,” but “not often asked what my favorite parenting quote is, but I’ll post it anyway.”
Eva took it a step further and didn’t just do a post and ghost. She engaged with her users on both sides of the debate that her post created. One poster, @redlips_and_wine commented, “I don’t know. I was spanked and now I’m a respectful adult. And believe me, I deserved those whoopings. I was a brat.” To which Eva responded, “thank you for your comment. So happy to agree to disagree. Want this page to offer that in a loving way. We all parent our own way and I have no idea what I’m doing most the time.”
Another user, @garbagemanswife posted, “Love you but completely disagree. The goal in raising kids is not to have to spank, but it’s correcting before they can reason behavior out with you. Completely different than hitting someone. That’s not correcting behavior. We raised 5 respectful loving kind kids that were a joy to be around. Good fruit shows from loving correction.” Eva’s response was, “@garbagemanswife I totally respect you. Thank you for a respectful comment. So nice to disagree with respect. I found the quote powerful and wanted to pass it on. Lotsa love to and yours ❤️.”
From this latest debate, it’s clear that two things are true. The saying, “If I want your opinion I will give it to you,” is true. And that Eva Mendes is full of grace and patience.