A good friend of mine wanted to plan a photoshoot as a gift for her mom’s birthday. We had a beautiful fall day and four little ones ages 2 and under. This sweet family has really grown in the last few years!

We met in her parent’s backyard in Beaver County and stood in the shade of the setting sun.

Before the shoot we talked about the groupings of portraits for the whole family, individual families and some candids of the kids, because while it would be great to capture everyone smiling at the same time, it was not likely with a group this big and children so small.

I know the stress of wanting to get your children to smile for their photos. And I feel it keenly because my sons are some tough subjects to photograph being that they’re little boys who are constantly on the move.

This photoshoot didn’t produce that one shot with everyone smiling, but there are a few where everyone is looking at the camera. We’re documenting that day with the kids at those given ages and as moms and dads, we can recall when our child bumped his head fifteen minutes before the shoot or how our toddler would not budge on smiling for the camera. I remember my parents and grandparents reminiscing over the challenges of photographing me and my sister and cousins when we were little. It sweetens the memory and we have a lot more to talk about than perfect smiles on cue.

Aren’t these two above adorable? They were playing with sticks and I just really liked this moment as they were looking off to the side at their parents.

Such a sweet mama and baby!

For parents wanting to know how to coax some smiles out of their kids, I suggest three things: limiting the chaos behind the camera (for anyone not being photographed in the current shot, it’s best to be out of sight and not calling for the kids to smile – only one designated person should do that—which brings me to my next suggestion), having one dedicated person located at the side of your photographer to make funny faces and encourage the kids (although not necessary, your photographer can do this on his/her own as well), and lastly treats! I use candy with my kids. I figure that a photo shoot is an important enough event that having a little positive reinforcement to get my kids to cooperate is never bad. I even give them candy throughout the shoot. I don’t mind seeing my boys’ with lollipops in their photos. When my second son was born, I gave my oldest Smarties to chew on while our photographer did our newborn/family photos. You couldn’t see the Smarties, but you could see his smile! And that’s saying something even just a week after the huge adjustment of becoming a big brother! He’s probably smiling mostly because he was happily crunching on candy and I was happy to give him that reward for his cooperation.