海角大神

Many parents are familiar with the practice of telling kids who are upset to 鈥渦se your words鈥� and it seems that celebrities like Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield, Anne Hathaway, and Adam Shulman are doing just that by using little cardboard signs to alert paparazzi to worthy causes instead of losing their tempers.

This feels like it should be one of those 鈥淚 wish I鈥檇 thought of that鈥� moments for Hollywood celebrities and charities.

Imagine all the headlines about celebrities losing their cool over paparazzi attacks that would never have happened had someone in Hollywood thought of this sooner.

However, it鈥檚 not just that these stars are 鈥渦sing their words,鈥� but that they are doing good in the world by placing the name of a charity in front of their famous faces and turning themselves into enormously popular walking billboards.

Ms. Stone and Mr. Garfield began the practice last month after a paparazzo spotted them walking around Manhattan's West Village.

According to media reports, Stone鈥檚 hastily hand written cardboard signs read, "Good morning! We were eating and saw a group of guys with cameras outside. And so we thought, let's try this again. We don't need the attention, but these wonderful organizations do: 鈥�>鈥�

Garfield鈥檚 sign listed the various organizations they support. That was good to see.

What was even better to note was that Ms. Hathaway and Mr. Shulman performed a copycat act by using their words in the face of a slew of nosy cameras.

Hathaway鈥檚 handwritten cardboard sign read, "Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield had a great idea! Please check out:聽 [an organization that empowers young women],聽聽[a nonprofit network of domestic food banks], and聽聽[a charity geared towards raising awareness for children's issues]."

This got me thinking about how parents can capitalize on this new celebrity trend.

While I don鈥檛 expect my 10-year-old to plug a charity when riled, I do think having him scribble a positive note or happy face to hold in front of the awful expression he has would be a huge improvement.

In fact, one of our senior mentors who helps at a free chess program I run was told by a little girl a few months back that he 鈥渓ooks too scary to listen to.鈥�

This hurt his feelings, until I shot a few pictures of the faces he was making at the kids and me. He pondered that as he stomped away across the room.

Then he shouted to the kids, 鈥淗ey! Who says I鈥檓 scary?鈥�

When we looked in his direction, he had drawn a ridiculously funny caricature of himself smiling and was holding it up in front of his face.

It did the trick. Now whenever one of the kids says he鈥檚 looking grim our mentor literally puts on a happy face for the kids.

While there鈥檚 now the danger of some enterprising company coming up with printed sign-masks, I like the homespun, impromptu nature of what Stone, Garfield, Hathaway, and Shulman are doing.

I hope it catches on with other celebrities.

However, more than that, I hope the trend of finding positive solutions to individual problems and making those solutions a benefit to the community is something that catches on.

It鈥檚 a good lesson for kids to learn that while a problem may be ours alone, eliminating the anger and 鈥渦sing our words鈥� we may find a solution that can do good for many.