When it comes to parenting, John Legend admits he may not always get it right, but he is working hard to raise kind and healthy kids.
HuffPost caught up with the singer at the launch of his partnership with the nonprofit Wholesome Wave and the juice brand Naked for Drink Good Do Good, a campaign to donate fresh fruits and vegetables to communities in need. Getting involved in this kind of cause is one way Legend hopes to instill a sense of kindness and empathy in his children.
“A lot of it is about the example you set for your kids ― how you talk to them, how you talk to other people around them, and setting that example of what it means to be kind, polite, grateful, honest and all these things,” he explained.
“Hopefully as they get older, they see the kinds of causes we get behind and the kinds of things we talk about publicly, and they’ll see us as an example of who they want to be,” he added. “Hopefully we’ll continue to be good examples for them.”
Naked
Legend and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, are parents to 2-year-old Luna and 4-month-old Miles. HuffPost asked Legend what it’s like to go from one child to two.
“It’s a thing, you know. In some ways it’s easier because we have perspective and we’re not like, afraid,” he said, laughing. “I wouldn’t say we were afraid the first time, but we definitely didn’t know what we were doing and leaned on our professional help a lot more. I think now we understand our style as parents and understand how to interact with each other and with the kids. The experience really helps you with the second kid.”
Miles’ big sister Luna is developing her own sense of self (and becoming a fan-favorite presence on her parents’ social media accounts).
“It’s cool when one of your kids starts to be a little bit more autonomous,” said Legend. “You still have to pay pretty close attention, but Luna can walk around on her own and has a little bit more of her own empowerment.”
When asked if he experiences #parentingfails, Legend wasn’t afraid to get real.
“Oh, all the time!” he said. “Little accidents [laughs] like, ‘Oh, I just dropped his head on that.’ Nothing lifetime damaging but you always have these little moments like, ‘I could’ve done better with that,’ or, ‘Ooh, I shouldn’t have let her fall down.’”
Still, he added, “You start to realize after the first kid that they can recover from most of these things. You can’t flip out every single time. They’re gonna fall. Help them get back up. And pretend it didn’t happen.”