How to Prepare Your Kids for Family Photos
As a photographer of 8 years and a mother of three, I’ve learned some tips & tricks to help set your family up for success when you take your family photos!
You cannot control your strong willed children(as you know), but you can do all you can do to put yourself in the best position for a positive experience for everyone!
Let Them Choose. Let your kids have some choice in their outfit or hair. I’m not saying let them wear whatever they want, but choose a couple options of shirt, shoes, hair, etc to let them choose between! Kids LOVE to have control over anything so this helps them feel like they had some say in how they look & they will be excited to show it off!
Fed & Rested. Try and schedule your family photos after nap time and not too close to bedtime. And make sure to feed them a good protein filled meal before pictures. Even if that means drive thru chicken nuggets on the way. Tired &/or Hungry = Cranky.
Getting Dressed. If at all possible, wait to get dressed until you get to the location. Especially for dress shirts & dresses that may wrinkle on the drive. ESPECIALLY babies. Because you already know that the minute you have them in their cute little outfit and buckle them into their car seat they’ll either spit up or have a blow out. It’s like a rule that that has to happen🤪
Relax. I know family pictures can be stressful, especially on mom. But your kids will feed off of your energy, so do everything you can to be prepared and ahead of schedule so you aren’t stressed. Iron clothes and set out outfits the night before, make a crock pot dinner(that won’t stain anyone’s faces) so it’s ready to go, do your hair & makeup during nap time or whenever you have time earlier in the day, etc. If you can tell that someone is getting cranky, turn that energy around! Have a kitchen dance party, go play tag, do SOMETHING that distracts them from how they were feeling and get some positivity flowing through their veins!
HYPE IT UP! Talk about it all day or week long and be super positive and excited! Just like they feed off our stressed or anxious energy, they also feed off of our excitement. Explain what you’re going to do and how a really fun girl(or guy) is going to take pictures of them and explain how they look at the camera and smile and then when the photographer is all done, they can go play or get ice cream or whatever the fun thing is that they’d want to look forward to. Have them practice in the mirror if you think they’ll like that. Just talk so positively about it and how it’s going to be SO MUCH FUN!
Bribes. If you are the bribing type, the only candy you need is SMARTIES. Basic, I know, but hear me out. They are small, you can easily hide them in your pocket or dad’s during pictures without them melting, they don’t melt over clothes or stain faces, and they’re small enough to be basically unnoticeable if a kid still has one in their mouth.
Just embrace it. There will most likely be something that goes wrong, or kids that just want to play. Just go with it. Oftentimes those are the most cherished photos over the picture perfect posed photos. Play tag, tickle, piggyback rides, etc.
You can do it! Family photos may be a little overwhelming & stressful now, but 30 years down the road you will be so glad that you took them. And PROMISE ME that you will print them! They do nobody any good by sitting in your phone forever. Print them out and display them!
I also wrote up another blog post about choosing outfits! Check that out here!
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