“THEY BUILT AN HGTV EMPIRE — BUT THIS IS WHAT MATTERS MOST.”  While millions of fans know Ben and Erin Napier for transforming homes, the *Home Town* stars say their greatest project has nothing to do with renovation

Erin and Ben Napier built a home renovation empire on HGTV, but their most important passion has been raising their two daughters.

“It feels like every day is a dance, and it has to be carefully choreographed for us to get to the end and all feel good about it,” Erin joked with PEOPLE in December 2021. “The wheels fall off around 5 p.m.”

A decade after they married in 2008, the couple welcomed their first child, Helen Napier, in January 2018. Their second daughter, Mae Napier, was born in May 2021.

Though Erin and Ben have public-facing careers as hosts of three HGTV shows in the Home Town franchise, they are raising their kids away from the cameras

The interior designer told Today that they don’t plan on having Helen and Mae access social media until they graduate high school and can “process” what it is.

“How would I feel about it, if I went back in time and saw my mom posted all of this stuff for the world to see? How would I feel about that?” Erin said in the April 2023 interview. “It’s our job to build a hedge of protection around their heart until they’re strong enough to fight that battle.”

Here’s what to know about Erin and Ben Napier’s kids — daughters Helen and Mae — and what the TV personalities have said about parenting.

Helen Napier, 8

Three years after Erin was told that scar tissue from a perforated appendix would likely prevent her from having children, the pair welcomed their first daughter on Jan. 3, 2018.

They named Helen after Erin’s grandmother, according to a blog post the designer wrote in October 2017.

“My prayer for Helen is that she will be brave and kind. I pray that she will not be bullied the way I was, and that she will be a protector of the ones who are,” she added. “I pray that she will learn that from her father, the protector who loves the people in his life so well.”

Though the HGTV stars don’t often post photos of Helen online, they have shared snippets of her personality, including the ways she’s taken after her parents’ love for design.

In September 2024, Erin shared on Instagram that her then-6-year-old daughter had designed her first home, a “little cottage that’s wood with a brick chimney” that she planned to build on their family farm when she grows up.

“I’ve never wanted to visit a place that doesn’t exist so badly,” the mother of two captioned the video.

Mae, 5

On May 28, 2021, Erin and Ben welcomed their second daughter.

When announcing her birth to PEOPLE, the couple revealed that she was named after Erin’s Aunt Mae and that they were most excited to watch the relationship between the two young sisters blossom.

“While we are excited to have another daughter to love, we are more excited to see the bond she and Helen will have,” they said in a statement. “They’re already so in love with each other!”

Erin frequently shares her daughter’s illustrations online, including a portrait she did that the interior designer titled “Mommy in Her Glasses” in an October 2025 Instagram post.

The couple announced in 2025 that they were homeschooling their two children.

“Somehow, we did it! 2nd grade / k-4 are ,” Erin shared in a May 2026 Instagram post. “These girls are so happy, so good at communicating with all ages and types of people. And we feel like we soaked up every moment of growing up they did, instead of feeling shocked by it each passing week.”

She continued, “We found the hack to slowing down childhood. It’s not for everyone, but it was medicine for our whole family this year.”