Between the immeasurable suffering brought on by the pandemic and the charitable spirit of the holiday season, now is as good a time as ever to volunteer, donate, or give back in other ways with your family if you can. But for Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, who are parents to Luna, 4, and Miles, 2, giving back to others is not just an annual event, or even something they do together monthly. In fact, they’re already teaching their children—particularly Luna—to give back in everyday ways.
“Luna is insanely empathetic,” Teigen tells SELF in a joint interview with Legend. “And she has no problem knowing that she just plain receives too many things, and it needs to go to people who need it or would like it. She’s never once cried about it or complained. If anything, she’s the one to bring up that it’s time to get rid of some of her things.”
In fact, Luna’s already becoming an influencer in her own right—Legend and Teigen say she receives free gifts at their house all the time. “It’s just too much,” Teigen says. “And she’s so happy to even give away something that she once really, really loved that just doesn’t fit anymore.”
“I think it’s hard for them to have any perspective about it right now, but I think Luna really does have a sense of empathy that is so advanced for her age,” Legend adds. “She makes me proud every single day, because you can tell she has such a generous spirit.”
The Teigen-Legend clan uses a simple trick to make sure giving back and recycling their most-loved items happens on a regular basis: They keep a centrally located bin in their house that they constantly fill with items they want to give to others. “Chrissy will ask me—because she knows I work a lot with different nonprofits—‘Who can we give this to? I want to give this away to this group or that group. I want to help these people,’” Legend says. “She’s just so generous, and we just make it a practice as a family to give as much as we can.”
Leave it to the Internet’s First Family to lead the way in doing so. From now through December 31, the couple is partnering with McDonald’s on a new social fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RHMC), for which McDonald’s will give $100 in your name for every post on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or Facebook that includes a RMHC heart and the hashtag #HereForRMHC. (You can learn more about how to participate in the challenge here.) “Despite what’s happening with the pandemic, year-round, every year, there are always going to be families that need the help of a charity like the Ronald McDonald House to keep them close to their loved ones as they’re going through serious illness,” Legend says. “We who have resources and the ability to help should find ways to do so, and we’re happy to be part of it.”
When it comes to otherwise getting in the holiday spirit, the family is reining in their usual holiday plans as the pandemic rages on and the CDC recommends against travel and indoor gathering. But Teigen is welcoming the relative stillness with open arms. “I finally realized that more is not more,” she says. “More is more, but it doesn’t mean better. I would drive myself crazy for years every Thanksgiving. I would have 15, 16 sides. I would start usually the Monday before, and it was, to be honest—”
“It was too much,” Legend interjects.
Teigen agrees. “People would only take the tiniest scoop of green bean casserole,” she continues. “I would do so much. And I would only drive myself crazy. This year, it’s really much more about the enjoyment that comes from cooking. I want to go back to it not being a chore, or not being work. We just want to take it easy, make some food, watch great football, and have dinner at a reasonable hour.”
When it comes to food, Legend and Teigen both say their kids are pickier than they imagined they’d be, especially with two foodie parents. “We’re trying to groom them into more omnivorous people,” Legend says. “[Luna] doesn’t like food touching each other—she doesn’t like them mixed together. She doesn’t like complications of multiple ingredients. She wants it simple. I’m trying to change her, but it’s not happening yet.”
Luckily, both kids love the home-cooked food Teigen’s mother, Vilailuck “Pepper Thai” Teigen, makes for them, Teigen says. And when it comes to testing new kid-friendly recipes for Teigen’s upcoming cookbook with coauthor Adeena Sussman, Teigen is always looking for honest feedback from Luna—even when that feedback isn’t positive. That’s more than okay with Teigen—it’s crucial for proper recipe editing. But what’s more important, Teigen says, is that Luna keep her mind open to liking new foods and experiences someday, even if it’s not today.
“In school they’re taught to say, ‘I don’t like broccoli yet,’” Teigen says. “So there’s that word, ‘yet,’ at the end that we use a lot in the house. If Luna’s trying a tomato, she’ll say, ‘I don’t like the tomato.’ And I’ll say, ‘What?’ And she goes, ‘I don’t like this tomato yet.’” The idea is that it teaches kids not to write anything off so quickly; that there’s room for growth and positivity, especially when it comes to veggies.
“It’s so optimistic,” Legend says. “I like the ‘yet.’ It’s so hopeful about tomorrow.”
While Luna hasn’t been in in-person school this year, the Teigen-Legends host a small preschool pod in their backyard, where every Friday, Teigen steps in to teach a lesson that matches a food to an arts-and-crafts or outdoor activity. Legend is clearly impressed: “Chrissy is so creative with them, and she has so many fun ideas,” he says. “She always says she was meant to be a preschool teacher in an alternate life, and I truly believe that. We’re lucky, and our kids are lucky that they have a mom who is so into it. We are making the most of this quarantine time where we’re forced to be a bit more creative and resourceful. I think Chrissy is more than up to the task.”
It’s clear that Legend and Teigen are both optimistic people and proponents of hope, even in their darkest moments. (On September 30, the couple announced the devastating loss of their son, Jack, after Teigen was diagnosed with a partial placental abruption.) “We’ve obviously been through a tough year, but we’re not the only ones who have been through a tough year,” Legend says. Instead, Legend’s advice is to use this time to focus on how to give back and be catalysts for larger change.
“We have to take care of each other,” he says. “If we focus on our own mental health and our own well-being and taking care of each other, then it enables us to be as helpful as we can to other people as well.”