Image Source: Getty/ Phillip Faraone
Like many moms, Kristen Bell has a pretty good BS detector. She knows how to fish out foods with sketchy ingredients and when to ignore clickbait headlines in what she calls a world full of "outrage addiction."
Her knack for finding the truth and sticking to one's principles is one of the many reasons the mom makes a great philanthropist.
The Good Place and Frozen star – who is also mom to daughters Delta and Lincoln – is involved in a lot of causes. Need proof? Check her Instagram, where you'll find posts supporting March For Our Lives, promotion of a No Kid Hungry event, and an endorsement for California candidate for Congress Katie Hill.
"I walk them through it at their level."
At a launch event for This Bar Saves Lives, another one of the many organizations Bell works with, she spoke to POPSUGAR about how she and husband Dax Shepard give back as a family. Although she admits that "I cut corners just like everybody else," she does her best to educate her children about the realities of the world.
While conversations about environmental issues and natural disasters might not always be the easiest topics to talk to your young children about, Bell finds that the best way to communicate with your child about making change is by speaking to them in a language they'd understand. "I walk them through it at their level," Bell told POPSUGAR.
She explained that a rule they have at home is that any time a toy is brought into the household, the children are responsible for picking a toy to give away to a child in need. Instead of telling them they need to donate their toys, Bell and Shepard ask their kids how they would feel if they didn't have toys.
"They go, 'I would feel sad,'" Bell explained. "And you go, 'Look, we don't play with this anymore, let's give this to a kid [who needs it].'"
This strategy seems to be working. Lincoln, 5, now goes up to Bell voluntarily with toys they can drop off at Baby 2 Baby, of which Bell is an ambassador. Lincoln even makes sure to wrap the toys.
Although Bell explains things to her children in a terminology they can relate to, she and Shepard also speak to them bluntly about adult themes like sex and death. For instance, they are currently dealing with the passing of the children's grandfather from prostate cancer, so Kristen and Dax have been preparing them by explaining to them the science behind their grandfather's organ failure, while simultaneously making the point that they need to spend more time with him because he will likely pass soon.
When time came to explain how funerals work, Lincoln asked if the family would be burying grandpa on the side of the house, and if she needed to bring her gardening tools. Her response really left an impact on Bell.
"It made me very proud that she was aware of what was going to happen and that she was handling it with her practical, critical brain," Bell said. "It wasn't scary to her, she was like, 'well, he's a member of our family – how do we handle it.'"