SIL perfect pictures

Please please don't be concerned about this!! Honestly, my favourite photos of my DCs are the unposed, spur of the moment ones, or the ones where they're pulling a silly face, or those little snapshots of something everyday. Of course there are times I take more 'posed' ones, where I get them to stand together, in front of a particularly nice view or something, but the most treasured ones are the ones of our real life, the little moments that we all love and have happy memories of. Just enjoy your DC, take photos of whatever you want, whenever you want, because when they're adults you'll look back and be so so glad you caught those 'imperfect' but wonderful moments with your DC ❤️

This is hilarious. No offence OP, please get off social media. It’s a photo.

Ask her to take some pics of your kids next time you're together, sounds like she has a knack for it.

You're just wanting to take a pop at your SiL. Own it and stop pretending you feel "less of a parent" because of photos she's had taken of HER kids🙄

This in abundance

Is it the school holidays?

I also have 3 kids 6 and under - I didn't take a picture at all* for a fortnight too busy surviving 🤣

*That's a lie I took a picture of my 6yo shopping list yesterday strauberries was too cute not to.

Have I failed them by not taking the Instagram worthy shots?
I feel like a total failure.

I mean seriously? Come on OP, do you really think this constitutes being a failure? If this was the case, we'd have generations of people in therapy due to the trauma of crappy photos that were the case pre-instagram.

Do you honestly think you're kids are going to grow up and resent you because you didn't dress them up in some daft outfit for a photo shoot or took photos of them crawling into the sunset?

If anything they'll be relieved you didn't make them perform for the camera and treat them like content for your Instagram for likes. We're already starting to see the harm caused to children being paraded on social media who cannot consent to it.

And anyway the photos I like best from my childhood are the ones that would never be considered Instagram worthy anyway. The one where I'm covered head to toe in spaghetti bolognese as a toddler or the one where someone is caught of guard doing a stupid face or expression. There the photos you love to look back on. The ones that actually show real life

Are said photos all tagged with #ad #gifted etc?

My SIL has some nice pictures of her kids and family. After witnessing how she gets those pictures I am happy I don't force that shite on my own. It is not a lovely day out if you are screaming at your kids and husband if the picture isn't perfect, and I feel sorry for my neices/nephews and BIL whenever I see new happy family pictures posted.

This absolutely cannot be real and if it is, I feel genuinely sorry for you and your children if you think this is something to be concerned about and that some sort of curated photo symbolises your worth as a parent.

Most of us grew up well before digital photos were a thing. Most of my childhood photos involve someone with their eyes shut, or the photo out of focus, a finger over the lenses or red eyes. Does it matter or do I care? No. As someone said the main thing is love and spending meaningful time with your children. You don't need some a ridiculous over the top photo to prove this.

I grew up in the 1980s, we had a camera but half the photos came out with someone’s finger over the lens

HAS to be. There are some really OTT ridiculous conundrums in trending posts at the minute.

I kind of understand what you are getting at, I don’t take half as many photos as my friends do and I don’t really have a knack for it. I don’t really use social media so I never got into it and now I feel too behind. I just make myself feel better thinking how few photos we had from childhood! I would like to get better at grouping photos into albums/ making photo books each year or something though.

What I really would like to do is get good at making short videos- like on a birthday when people put clips together and somehow make it flow beautifully.

Oh, it was a real.post then.

Your children are still young, if it really matters to you start taking arty pictures now.
It's just not a big deal in the scheme of things though is it?

Have a word with yourself. The most important thing is to spend time with your kids, not whether you have taken great pictures of them.
Spend time with them, love them, enjoy them, prioritise them, care for them, teach them.
Those are the important things & the things they will remember.

And whatever great pics she takes now they will still probably look dated & naff by the time her kids are grown up anyway.

Time to book a family photography session then
Or go on holiday or days out with SIL and ask her to take some candids of you and the kids
Go through your phone and sort nice pix into a folder - then download free prints app and get them all printed into a nice album. It will look much nicer and you could even write something on the back of pix
V good for the kids to flick through

This was us but with 3. A full big album plus extras of child one. About half an album of child 2 and about 10 pictures of number 3.
Ds3 did ask why there weren't as many pictures of him i just said the photos were expensive to develop and I was too busy looking after them.

Taking great photos is a bit of a hobby. You need to think about it then practice...btw I'm sure your amateur style photos are lovely 🌹

By ‘Instagram worthy’ i’m presuming you just mean nice photos as you then go
on to say you could put them on the wall?
Some people have a natural eye for this sort of stuff. I don’t but still have photos of my kids up that I’ve taken. No faffing about with staging or lighting or tinkering with the effects or whatever, just point shoot print frame.

It’s concerning that you are raising three children as an emotionally immature adult.

Is your sil Michelle whatsherbuns, married to that fella from Towie?

It probably took her 5,000 shots and hours of time, remember you are seeing the perfect ones, not the time and effort that it took!

Do you know, some people don't even HAVE Instagram, and their kids are great as well. I think if you're so insta-addled that you can't even think rationally about other people's social media, that you probably need to come right off the apps.

“Mum, where are the semi-professional ‘milestone’ photos of me you stage-managed for your social media feed?”

Said no teenager ever.

Seriously, OP, is this what you really believe constitutes aspirational parenting? Expending time and energy artificially posing your children for Insta-worthy pictures? That are then posted online, thus creating an indelible, lifelong digital footprint before those kids can even walk, let alone consent to it?

This is about as far from anything a child wants or needs as it’s possible to get. Stick with your family snaps and have a word with yourself.

Hey OP - I'm a photographer (more hobby than work) and I have stunning photos up of a lot of different people - from my kids and OH to our pets.

I can promise you that real life is not like that. There's clutter, fighting siblings, attempt number 382, a stain down a dress, I could go on.

I don't have any of these kind of photos of our eldest two as newborns as I wasn't as good at photography back then, and either used my phone or a disposable camera.

But it's never too late if it's something you genuinely want to do.
Etsy sell some really good photo props and backdrops. If you have it, always use portrait mode on your phone's camera if that's what you have. You can download editing apps for free to change the brightness and smoothness etc.

But you are not in any way, less of a mother and you honestly haven't failed at all. Never once will your children go "Well my Mum wasn't great because she didn't take insta-worthy shots of me in a basket with a flower petal background as a slept peacefully." I promise.