Boys Don't Smile

The ideal photo for this post would be a family photo,
but as I don't put the photos of my boys up here, this
will have to do! Are you smiling yet?

Here's a link to a blog I really enjoy. She's the mum of five boys, and then lately a girl. I can relate to a lot of her posts.

The one I've linked to above is about how hard it is to get a bunch of boys to all smile for the camera and how they hate it. Contrasting it with girls, many of whom appear to love to pose (I'm not talking from first-hand parenting experience here). She mentions how she always felt a little envious of all-girl families for this reason.

Our strategy for getting a family photo is generally to use the delay function (giving you 10 seconds to get in the picture) while we've been out hiking or some other physical activity. But she's right, you only get one (or maybe two) chances, then they're done.

The only other thing that has worked recently was a former professional photographer who is a family friend who took our photos late last year (thanks April). Again, we didn't make a huge deal out of it, but she was prepared to say words like, "Fart" in order to get them to smile. It worked too!

And as for those people who dress everyone in the same colour—I'm just not interested in that amount of fuss. So maybe crazy boys suit my style?