Hilary Duff's Pic Of Her Kids With Santa Is As Real As It Gets

Hilary Duff shares hilarious photo of her kids posing with Santa — and it will look familiar to every parent

That precious photo with Santa is like a parent’s memory holy grail. We get our little ones all dolled up in their holiday best and drag them to the mall to wait in line for ages and finally get that special moment where the kids tell Santa their wishlist and you get a sweet pic to share all over social media. But it really speaks to the fortitude of parents that even though this little Santa pow-wow often goes horribly wrong, we still keep trying. Celebs are no exception as Hilary Duff hilariously proved by sharing her own Santa photo — complete with kids who were totally over it.

Behold. If you don’t have a photo of your kids looking terrified with Santa, then are you even really a parent? “Honestly, Luca deserves a gold medal,” she writes. Which suggests it was little Banks making life difficult for their photoshoot. Which, toddlers, amirite?

This pic really has it all. Banks is all dressed up with a chunk of some kind of snack (very likely a bribe) hanging out of her mouth as big brother Luca does his best at holding on to her as she tries valiantly to escape. This is every toddler visiting Santa ever. Fight me.

Duff’s followers were 100% here for the humor in her photo with nothing but accolades.

It’s hard to expect much more from tiny kiddos when we make them wait in line in a likely overheated mall full of fellow overwrought kids only to shove them toward a total stranger dressed as Santa, who is fun in theory and from afar, but definitely kind of a lot to take in person. It’s honestly a miracle that any photos exist of kids under age five not losing their shit in Santa’s direction. Here are my own kids as evidence — though one was a willing participant, the other was… not. It’s the best outcome you can hope for, really.

Of course, Duff is no stranger to sharing the ups and downs of parenting. She recently posted about loving your kids even though they’re annoying as shit, and has a more relatable thing ever been said?

Bottom line, there should be a sign at the entrance of every mall Santa Land that reads, “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.” It’s a lost cause, so just do what Hilary Duff and I did and have them snap a quick photo to embrace the chaos. Speaking from experience, I can confirm that you’ll look back fondly on your foolishly hopeful attempt for a peaceful Santa pic and get a good chuckle out of the inevitable fail.