Normally I like to focus on the business of side of Photography when I write but I’m a mom first so there may be the occasional post on parenting and too. A few days ago my children came home with their report cards and to say I was proud is an understatement. I wanted to reward them and the first thoughts that came to mind were ‘lets go out to dinner,or lets get some ice cream. See when I was growing up we used food as a reward, food as a way to comfort, we used food for EVERY THING! Old habits are just that old habits. That day when my kids came home with those amazing report cards that’s when I realize that I was beginning to pass some of those same habits on to my children. I don’t want my child to have an unhealthy relationship with food so I began to brainstorm ways on how I could use Photography as positive reinforcement. These are a few ideas that I came up with:
- Create craft projects out of school artwork
- Photograph your child with the report card. What kids wouldn’t smile when they are showing off their best grades
- Create a family yearbook
Benefits of positive reinforcement with photography
- It teaches your child the value of family memories
- It allows them to create their own memories which helps them feel grown up like they have some say what gets kept and gets tossed.
- It cuts back on clutter
- It brings the family together
- It helps your child see their growth and progress
- It allows your child the freedom to choose that projects they want to keep, what they want to have printed as an album or memory book, and what they want to keep in the cloud.
- When using a photography project as positive reinforcement you get to celebrate your childs effort. It’s also a good life lesson that you can pass on: good things happen to good people.
About 2 or 3 years ago I started making family albums for my husband as a birthday gift. Do this helps serve as a milestone marker for us and it makes things EXTRA special for him. I mean I don’t have to struggle looking for that ‘PERFECT GIFT’ for him. Every year I make a theme out of the book which give me a whole year to work on. It helps develop my creative side as well.
Now as far as the photo books go. I have used a wide variety of projects. One year I had the pictures printed and created an old-fashioned scrap-book. The next year I did a press printed book, then I have canvas and large wall art printed to fill our walls like a museum.
You can start with whatever printed medium you’d like, I think photo books are the easiest and most accessible. Even if you decide to not have them printed with a pro photographer you can get some good quality printed ones from like Minted . com.
If you’d like to have your family professionally photographed for this project use our booking page to connect with me and I’ll get you scheduled.
