3 important tips for getting your toddler to smile in photos
The kids hiking in Washington
“Say cheese! Hey, look over here! Wait, come back just for one second! Just one smile! SAY CHEEEESE”
Getting a toddler to “smile pretty” in a photo can feel a little like taming a lion.
Sound familiar? If so, here are my 3 tips to help you get your toddler to smile in photos!
Smiling for the camera
1. To win a toddler, become like a toddler
I know, I know- what does that even mean?! It means that the best way to get your toddler to smile for the camera is to think like a toddler. Telling a 2 year old to look at the camera and “say cheese” rarely works. You might as well be speaking a foreign language to them.
2 year olds don’t like being still. They don’t want to look in a specific direction and they have absolutely no idea why on earth they’re saying “cheese”.
Instead of this approach that usually leads to frustration, try thinking like your child. Does your child love dinosaurs? Take 30 seconds to turn the photo session into a game of Jurassic Park- The rug you want them to stand on is suddenly an island and it’s their job try and spot the pterodactyl that is flying around the room when suddenly the pterodactyl flies into the camera! Ask them if they can see the dinosaur in the lens and start snapping like crazy.
You’ll get photos of your toddler making all kinds of faces and usually you’ll get a great smile or two. And the best part? The smile you’ll get will be their real, genuine smile. The photo may not be perfectly centered and maybe their arm is blurry because they weren’t being absolutely still, but the photo will be genuine and adorable.
Stopping for a pic on the trail in Ruidoso, NM
2. Play a game of “give and take”
Ok, so this might sound a lot like bribing, but I’ll tell you right now that I’m not above that when it comes to needing a good photo, see strategy number 3.
Smiling for picture
However, this strategy is one I think everyone can get behind. Think of something your child loves that you do together when playing. Maybe it’s a piggy back ride or maybe they love when you throw them in the air or play a game of tag. Then it goes like this-
“Who wants a piggy back ride on mama’s back?! Stand here and let mama take your picture and then you get a piggy back ride all around the room!” Aaaaand repeat over and over until you get the photo you love. Is your back going out at this point? Maybe, but you’ll get that shot you want of your toddler smiling and if the person behind the camera (looking at you, dads) is fast enough, you can get bonus shots of your toddler squealing with joy as you gallop around the room with them on your back.
Quick photos Cozumel, Mexico
3. Straight Up Bribery
Maybe this is controversial but I’m going to just be real with y’all- sometimes bribing is the best route when you just need a good photo and nothing else is working. Do I keep m&m’s in our house solely for this purpose? Yes. Do I feel bad about that? Absolutely not, and I’ll tell you why.
Sometimes, you’ve spent an absurd amount of time running around your house dressing children for their first day of school and making lunches and searching for a missing shoe and you desperately want a decent “first day of school” photo after all of this effort but you just don’t have the time or the capacity to utilize the strategies above. There are few things that get a smile out of my kids faster than when they know an m&m is waiting for them after I get a good picture.
And if you’re a better mom than me and you don’t give your kids candy, this can work with anything they love. I once brought an entire box of blueberries to a photoshoot when Eliot was 18 months old. After every few photos she would open her mouth like a little baby bird and I would happily toss some blueberries in.
I’ve had parents at family sessions bring fruit snacks, m&m’s, skittles, blueberries and one family who’s child loved popcorn so they brought some in a ziplock bag. Just make sure you pick something that won’t be messy, or you’ll have a whole new set of issues on your hands.
Smiling while baking
We don’t bribe much in our house but when it comes to getting a good photo quickly and mostly painlessly, we’ll bend our own parenting rules now and then.
Ultimately, my biggest advice to parents regarding getting a “good photo” of your kids is to adjust your expectations. Often, parents get so set on a posed photo of their kids where they are smiling and still. For some kids, that’s an easy ask! My daughter will strike a pose and smile for any camera anywhere. My son runs away from the camera the minute it’s pointed at him. In any photo of my son, you can rest assured that I’ve utilizes one of these three strategies to get it.
Pictures at Sweet Eat Farms
If you have a child that struggles with the “stand there and say cheese” approach, try one of these methods out! And ultimately, know that you may not get the exact photo you’re desiring but try adjusting your goal from “perfect” to “genuine” and see if that brings down the stress and disappointment that you may often feel when trying to get photos of your kids!