A message to all you parents that want your kids to smile for photos. I get it. This is something you want to remember and you want those memories to be good ones. And sometimes your kids won’t play along. Below are some tips.

As a professional photographer – here are the tips:

1 – Remember really young kids have an undeveloped sense of time – so those bribes of going somewhere or a reward AFTER the session mean nothing to them. They will want them NOW or 3 minutes from now. AKA, they don’t work or don’t work well. Slip the photog a few small and non messy food/candy treat out of sight of the kids. Let them offer the treats when needed.

2 – let the photog set the pace and tone. Stress over not smiling is infectious and your kids will become stressed and that makes for poor pix.

3 – Let the photog tell you when they need your help. Don’t tell your kids to smile. Please. You’ll be looking at them, telling them to smile and they will will and there will be a great shot of them smiling and you with clenched teeth looking at them.

4- Manage your expectations. Do they listen to you all the time? Someone of the time? None of the time? Why expect different in a situation they may never have been in. They are kids. Let them be kids and reveal in the craziness that is your life right at this moment. The days are long and the years are short. You will miss these days. you will laugh at these moments… probably not for years, but one day…

5 – well fed and rested make for happy kids. This goes for adults too. Get coffee and some carbs before the shoot for yourself.

6 – Trust the photog. They have done this before. What you see as a hot mess probably isn’t even close to they have experienced.

Hope this helps!