When a mom and her kids visit a café in L.A., it usually doesn’t turn heads, but the Stauffer family isn’t just any family.
This family includes Instagram-famous twins Mila and Emma Stauffer, the 4-year-old stars of the clan who can hardly go out in public without being recognized.
When asked if they’re famous, in one hilarious episode of Localish’s My Go-To, Mila’s enthusiastic “Yes!” is met with silence from her siblings, Charles, Finn, Emma and Kaitlin. Mom Katie Stauffer, a professional photographer, characterizes their fame with sincere modesty (given the more than 1 billion views they’ve garnered). “We basically just have an Instagram channel about our family,” Stauffer says. But that channel (@kcstauffer) has more than 4 million followers. It has garnered the Gilbert, Ariz., family so much notoriety in the entertainment industry that the Stauffers now split their time between home and L.A.
Stauffer says she had no hand in how it started. The first video that went viral and was picked up by the Ellen Degeneres talk show was written and produced by big sister Kaitlin (@kaitsta), who filmed Mila “acting” it out. Stauffer said Mila did it all on her own and that she simply asked Stauffer if she could post it. She says that though Mila and Emma are Instagram and YouTube famous, their use of screen time is minimal, as low as 30 minutes a day. “They don’t [create videos] every day,” she says. “It might be once a week. My rule is to be out and about and doing stuff, whether it’s at the park or playing with friends.”
Stauffer feels that keeping rules to a minimum has helped the kids become more creative and naturally make better choices – from eating healthier foods to less screen time. “We don’t really have goal setting for them. We take it as it is and let them have fun,” she says. “They all have to want to [make videos]. Now that the twins are getting older, they’re asking to be actresses.”
The family is currently working on a new show called “Mila and Emma Take Hollywood,” and like most celebrities, say there’s another project Stauffer can’t yet talk about. Kaitlin is working with a music manager to further her musical aspirations.
Stauffer acknowledges that her parenting style works for her and that every parent-child relationship is different. Still, when asked if she has advice for parents with young kids who are creative, she says, “Relax, especially when the kids are younger, because I’m learning that it just gets harder when they get older.”
For a good laugh, watch Mila’s take on 2019 New Year’s resolutions at bit.ly/2RpjEca.
