Hey Families with young kids!

This blog post is for YOU!

I put together a few fun resources to help your family prepare for your Rachel Marie Photography Family Photo Session! First, I wanted to give a little introduction before your session so that you would know my name, my face and a little bit more about what to expect when you have your family photos taken by Ms. Rachel! (Not THE Ms. Rachel but…pretty close lol)

First, check out this short video and meet my friend Cheese! 🦒 ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Some fun facts your child might be interested in knowing about me:

• I love Disney! Disney Movies, Disney World, Disney Land, Disney Characters, all of it!
• I am a mom! I have 2 little girls, ages 2 and (almost) 4!
• I used to work in elementary schools as a school counselor! This means that I am used to talking to and teaching kids as well as helping them to manage their emotions and behaviors!
• I love to have fun and be silly! During photo sessions we can play games like red light-green light!
• I love to explore outdoors! Hiking sessions with families are some of my all time favorites!
• I used to want to be a storm chaser when I grew up!

Some things your child can do to get ready for their photo session:

• Practice their smile (and silly faces) in the mirror if they want
• Plan a fun/silly/exciting pose that they want a photo of
• Plan special poses they want to do with each of your family members (mom/dad/sis/bro/etc)
• Color & Read my brand new RMP Social Story and Coloring Book!!! ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

This 14-page coloring booklet explains what to expect at photo sessions with Rachel Marie Photography and reduces the number of “unknowns” that can come with family photo sessions to give your children peace and build their confidence before entering into a new situation with a new person!

As a former Elementary School Counselor, I value helping your kids to feel comfortable and seen during your family photo session which I hope is something you will observe in my interactions with them!

My hope is that these resources will help all kids (and their parents, because we all know how closely our stress is tied to theirs) to feel a little more at ease and a lot more excited about getting family photos taken with me!

I also just never want disabilities of any kind and/or worries about behaviors to keep families from receiving their own treasured family photos. 

Another thing you can do with your child to prepare for your family photo session with Rachel Marie Photography??

Watch my RMP Treasure Box Video! ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Tips for Parents Before Family Photos:

• Get everyone excited! Let them know in advance that family photos are coming up and that it’s going to be soooo much fun! Tell them that it’s special family time where you get to play together and be silly and be sweet and after you get photos back that they can hang up in their room or get to look at in a family photo album! Ask them if they have any fun ideas for poses/photos and brainstorm some silly/cute ideas together! You can even talk about something fun the family can do together afterwards like get ice cream or go to Chick-fi-la or something they’ll love!

• Let your child be a part of the styling process! Especially if your child is opinionated about what they wear (like mine), you can choose 2-3 options that they can choose from! If this isn’t really an option, you can at least let them know “Hey come look, these are our special outfits for family photos this week! We are going to leave them right here until we are ready to put them on so they stay nice and clean! It’s going to be so fun” or something like that so they already know what’s going to be expected!

• Visit the location beforehand! If your child is highly anxious, you may even want to plan a visit to the location that we will be doing photos at if possible and walk around and explore a little bit! this way when they arrive on photo day, they will have seen their photographer already in a video and will have already walked around the location, hopefully making them a little more at ease from the start!

• Share helpful facts about your child in your booking questionnaire! Including facts about your child’s interests, fears, or anything that you feel would be helpful for me to know as we plan your session details!

• Keep the mood light! Try to stay away from negative reinforcements like “if you don’t listen for photos, you are not going to get _____” and try to lean into “I am so excited to play together as a family! Should I toss you in the air for photos? Should I tickle your belly? Do you want to ride on my back/shoulders for a few? Oooh maybe we should make silly faces for one!” and let that excitement and energy radiate off of you and make your child happy and excited too!

Here’s the thing….I don’t want your family to “look” happy in your photos.

I want your family to FEEL happy in your photos!

Like this! ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

I want you all to be smiling naturally because you’re actually having real fun together!

This doesn’t mean that your session is going to be picture perfect with no issues, tantrums or pivots. Perfect plans will always fail when young kids are involved! But it does mean that we aren’t going to sweat the little stuff. We are going to lean into what is bringing joy to your littles and turn any lemons into lemonade!

And you’ll leave thinking wow, that was actually fun!

If you’ve been delaying family photos because you are worried about how your children will behave, first of all, I want to say that I totally understand!!!

But I also want to say that I’ve got you, mama!!

You deserve those gorgeous photos to hang on your walls too!

My background in school counseling and the way that I orchestrate my sessions, along with these new resources for your family, will ensure that this investment will be worth your time and provide you with precious images you will cherish for a lifetime. Reach out today and we can start planning your beautiful session!

I’ll see you soon!

Thanks for Reading!!

xoxo, Rachel