10 Celebrity Moms and Dads Share Down-to-Earth Parenting Tips That We Can All Use

We might think that celebrity kids live cushy lives and never have to worry about a thing. However, famous parents are just like ordinary ones — they can be both caring and strict. So the answer is no, little celebrity children aren’t always given things on a silver platter.

Bright Side is taking a peek inside the houses of famous families and sharing the parenting secrets of celebrity moms and dads.

1. Will Smith

Will Smith gives his children freedom of expression and accepts them for who they are. For instance, his reaction to his son’s interest in women’s clothes was more than balanced. Smith highlights that the most common mistake parents make is fitting a child into a mold.

He says, “I feel like a lot of times, when I was growing up, I would see parents force a child to be what you want them to be. As a parent, if it’s an oak tree, I want it to grow as an oak tree. I’m not going to try to force it to be an apple tree.”

2. Heidi Klum

Heidi Klum lets her kids dress themselves in whatever they want as long as they behave and perform well at school. This way, her kids can find their own style. Although she might not always like it, she still respects her kids’ decisions.

She explains, “If we go to a restaurant, they like to dress up. They just hobble on their little heels for 20 steps from the car to the restaurant. As long as they’re good kids and they get good grades, they can wear what they want to wear.”

3. Blake Lively

Blake thinks it’s a great idea to have a comment box in the house so that kids could give feedback, exactly like in restaurants. It might give insight into the things that can be improved upon as well as what kids could do better. She believes that everybody has a voice and it should be heard.

4. Elizabeth Banks

It’s important to ask for help when you need it. Simply accepting it and not being ashamed of it is already a good decision that many moms, for some reason, don’t take. Elizabeth Banks advises, “Be open to any help. Many moms today feel they have to be supermoms, while historically, we’ve always had a village to pitch in.”

5. Jessica Alba

Create a routine for your kids. Jessica Alba loves rituals since they make life easier and more organized. Especially when school starts, routines become an essential part of her kids’ days. In the evening, they all should put their electronics away, take a bath, or put some calming music on so everything is ready in the morning.

6. Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore is a hard-working mother, so she doesn’t always get the chance to spare enough time for her children. To let her kids understand her schedule better, she uses paper calendars, where she circles the days when she’s away. She keeps her daughter in the loop so the child has a good sense of her geographic place on the globe.

7. David and Victoria Beckham

The couple puts a limit on their kids’ screen time. Only 1 hour of TV or Internet is allowed since the parents want their children to spend more time outside. Such an approach benefits not only their health but also discipline. However, David Beckham admits that such a rule might be harsh.

8. Gwyneth Paltrow

Don’t be afraid to apologize. Gwyneth Paltrow says that acknowledging your own mistakes can take a load off your shoulders as well as the shoulders of your kids. Besides, she also prefers having good conversations before bed to check in with her children. This way, Paltrow makes sure the relationship is stable and trusting.

9. Kate Winslet

Make sure your children feel good about their bodies. Kate Winslet says that she was never positively reinforced about her body image. She remembers she heard only negative aspects of the female physique. As a mother, Winslet stays away from this type of thinking and never shames her daughter. She stands in front of the mirror and tells her daughter that they are lucky to have a shape and be curvy.

10. Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher

There are no presents for the kids on Christmas in this family. Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher believe that kids end up waiting for something abstract rather than wanting a particular thing. If there are many gifts, none of them are appreciated. So if their grandparents bring more than one gift, the rest just go to charities.

What are your favorite parenting tips? What do you think the result would be with your kids if you gave the tips a try?