1..2..3.. GIGGLE!

Taking pictures of kids can be exhausting. Anyone who thinks that getting a photo of more than one child (sometimes even only one..) looking in the same direction, preferably at the camera, with a non-torturous look on their face, in the same frame, is easy... they cannot be taken seriously.

If you were to take the audio from any photo session of ours, you would hear phrases such as, "I need you to sit still!," "Look at the camera!", "No, I need you to look at the camera with your EYEBALLS!", "Look inside that little hole in my camera and smile!" "Don't run away, Beckham!" (I would want to run away too...) "Okay, sit right here, DO NOT MOVE, and SMILE!" "Don't flop over." "Okay, just ONE more..." "Okay, now only ONE more!"

It feels like organizing grasshoppers, really.

I read in a magazine recently that you should tell the kids to giggle instead. Then you don't get that fake smile, and you have a better chance of getting a smile at all instead of blank stares and photographic evidence of torture. 

We did that yesterday with some of our cul de sac pals.

 I love how kids can just genuinely laugh on command. 

Two thumbs up for this parenting-photo-trick!