Stressed about how the kids will act?
First of all, I am a mother of 3. I completely understand the stresses of wondering how well my kids will or will not cooperate. Afterall, we're investing in these sessions, so we want them to be perfect, right?
Of course we want to love our photos, I want you to love your photos. Reality is though that we need to let go of perfection. Yes, I said that. Does that mean you won't get the beautiful images for your wall that you were hoping? Definitely not!
What I mean is that if we tend to stress and be more uptight leading up to the session, it's going to show in your images, and we don't want that. Now I do think a good conversation with your kids leading up to the session date (depending on age of course) is a good idea. Let them know these are important for you now and for them in the future. Typically, knowing how important these are and the fact that you're investing time and money into your session, they are going to give us at least some time of cooperation.
Even for or our very own family session (which had not been done like ever since before my then 8 year old was born), it was chaos on the drive to the location! I'm talking cheetos that were snuck in the car staining teeth, my two boys decided to find big dirty sticks and fight each other with them leaving dirt prints all over each other. Man did I want to stress and panic, but then I remembered "well this is us. It's who we are." I had trust in our photographer that she would still be able to capture beautiful moments, and she sure did!
For a full family session, I allow enough time to ease into things in case tensions were high on the way, shy kiddos, etc. Up to an hour may seem like a long time for littles but having that bit of extra time for a break or warming up is important and exactly why I book the amount of time that I do. I also like to allow your children to just be who they are. Let them be themselves and that is going to 1. help them warm up and be more comfortable and 2. get us those true to life candid moments captured (more about candid photos in my last blog).
So, remember, have that conversation beforehand if you can, take deep breaths the whole way through to keep your stress levels down, be patient and let go of that "perfection" mentality, allow your children to be themselves and if that means a little goofy time, that is ok! Never worry about what I am going to think (remember, I am a mom myself), and heck, a little bribery can also come in handy if your kid likes to bargain.
I hope this helps ease your mind when booking a family session with me and I hope you stick around for more blogging.
