Wrangling your six kids together for a photograph is easier said than done — even for Madonna, we imagine. But Thanksgiving has a way of bringing families together, and the singer and entertainer somehow managed to pull all six of her kids together for a rare family photo for the holiday.
She shared the photo on Instagram, along with a caption detailing just how thankful she is for her family:
“What I am Most THANKFUL for! My Children have led me down roads and opened doors I never imagined I’d walk through,” the mom wrote. “Fame, Fortune and Records Broken could never equal that which I treasure and value most.”
The kids are all smiling sweetly as they pose together, and clearly, their mom couldn’t be more proud of her crew.
Madonna’s oldest child, daughter Lourdes Leon, 22, is at center, wearing a red dress. Madonna shares her with former boyfriend Carlos Leon. Rocco, the tallest of the bunch, is 18 years old, and Madonna shares him with former husband Guy Ritchie. Madonna’s youngest four children, 13-year-old David (right), 12-year-old Mercy (left) and 6-year-old twins Stelle and Estere (front), are all adopted, from Malawi. Together, this family makes quite a lovely bunch!
This mom might not luck out on getting all of her kids together in one photo often, but she does share photos of her children quite frequently online. She shows off everything from their Halloween costumes to their musical abilities on Instagram.
Three of her daughters had the most amazing Halloween costumes:
When the twins aren’t playing dress up, they’re showing off their musical talents for Mom:
She also posted a video of Mercy playing Bach on a Steinway piano, which goes to show that Madonna’s kids appreciate all kinds of music, even though their mom is a pop icon:
Madonna also advocates for letting your children be whatever they want to be and explore every avenue they wish to explore. So, when they’re not practicing the piano, they’re kickboxing:
“I try to teach [my kids] to think outside the box,” Madonna told Harper’s Bazaar back in 2013. “To be daring. To choose to do things because they are the right thing to do, not because everybody else is doing them,” she said.
Because at the end of the day, she just wants them to pursue their dreams and — most importantly — to be good people.
“There are people who tell me, ‘Of course you want your son to become a successful football player; the eldest, a dancer; Rocco, a painter.’ And I always say, ‘No, what I want for my children is that they become responsible human beings, capable of loving and feeling compassion.’ Nothing else,” the mom told Vogue Italia in an interview. “I do not care which way they follow, I just want them to be good human beings who treat everyone else with dignity and respect regardless of skin color, religion and gender.”
Sounds like a down-to-earth approach to parenting from the superstar!
Happy holidays to the whole family, and here’s hoping that Madonna will post more photos of all of them.