Eva Mendes‘ daughters are independent little ladies!

During a Saturday chat with PEOPLE at Create & Cultivate Los Angeles, the actress and fashion designer talked about how her two girls with longtime beauRyan Goslingaren’t as concerned with following in the footsteps of their parents as they are on forging their own identities.

“They are so their own women already. And it’s so beautiful to watch,” Mendes, 45, said of her “little maniacs”: 3½-year-oldAmada LeeandEsmeralda Amada, 5. “I really feel like it’s my job to get out of their way.”

“To protect them, of course, but to just let them be what they want to be,” she clarified. “I try not to give my opinion too much on what they like.”

“My 5-year-old cut her socks, the foot part off,and she likes to wear socks assleeves,” Mendes said of her older child. “And the other day she wore underwear as a hat and I was like, ‘That’s amazing.’ I wish I could do that. I can’t.”

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Eva Mendes attends Create & Cultivate Los Angeles at Rolling Greens Los Angeles on February 22, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.

Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling.Dave Allocca/StarPix/REX/Shutterstock

‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ film premiere, New York, America - 28 Mar 2013

From art projects to fashion, Mendes’ girls seem to have quite a creative streak, just like their parents. In September, theHitchactresstold PEOPLE she findsAmada and Esmeralda “so inspiring, because they just don’t care.”

“They care, in the best way,” she explained. “They’ll just be like, ‘Can I wear socks on my hands today?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, of course you can wear socks on your hands today.’ So we make that happen.”

“Or they’ll geta Halloween costume that wehave hanging out and they’ll wear that with pajama pants and a headband, and it’s so cool,” added the mother of two. “It’s just such a freedom.”

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Eva Mendes

In her Saturday chat with PEOPLE, Mendes said she and Gosling, 39,speak both Spanish and Englishto their daughters at home, and that Amada and Esmeralda “speak Spanish for sure.”

She also opened up her response to an Instagram troll earlier this month who said “she’s getting old,” after whichshe embraced the critique, even thanking the commenter “for the reminder that I’m still here. ❤️❤️❤️.”

“And I think the whole thing about not asking a woman what her age is archaic,” Mendes continued. “It’s like you canask me my age and I will happily tell you, I’ll be shocked, somewhat shocked. I’m about to turn 46 and that’s somewhat shocking to me. But I’m proud of that.”

source: people.com