Why Documenting Your Family Story is Important For Your Kids | by Geneva family photographer15/5/2020  "The days go by with so many little things that don't seem to matter until they're no longer there and suddenly, they're all that ever mattered." - Brian Andreas For parents photos of their children are extremely important. It is their chance to freeze the time and keep sweet memories, so they do not vanish. Every parent is building her own time machines from scratch with passion and dedication. And very often the importance of family photos for children, who are still small is being overseen. Precious photographs are being forgotten somewhere on a hard drive or in the cloud, waiting for “some day”, when you have time and your children are grown to appear in some hypothetical family album or wall gallery. But the family photos you take today are important for your children right now! They do teach them many important things, boost their self-esteem and give them a feeling of love and security.  (1) Treasuring Small Things Photography is one of the best mediums the humans have to highlight the importance and beauty of small things. When you are taking photos not only of birthdays, concerts and Disney-Land-trips, but also photos of collecting bugs in the backyard, splashing in the bathtub, reading a book, setting the table, watching cartoons, cuddling, being silly etc – you are cultivating an appreciation not only of big important events, but also of small moments in your life. Being captured with a camera (and maybe even with some artistic twist!) a simple moment of making and having dinner together becomes an important and cherished event. Just as the day you learned how to swim, got a medal and married someone. It becomes an irreplaceable part of your story. When you capture those small mundane moments and display them, so your children can really see them, you are recognizing the immense importance of simple things in your life and teaching your children to appreciate the present moments. You show them that simple daily events are of extreme importance, because these are things you like to do and you get to do them with people you love.  (2) Understanding Who You Are Photography can help to recreate a story of someone’s life even if this someone just turned 4! Seeing the whole story of life being put in front of you helps to satisfy humans natural curiosity. Understanding who you are, where you came from and what is going to happen next – kids desire to have this kind of knowledge just as adults do! Photography not only satisfies, but also supports curiosity in kids. Being able to see and compare different events in their life, they build expectations and are eagerly waiting for future events. For example I (like many of us) start answering the question „How many days left until my birthday?“ in February (and the birthday is in November). Curiosity supports our wish for discovery, learning and exploration. Looking back at photographs of daily life helps us to connect to our past, see who influenced our life and draw lines to who we are. This is really important for kids. Hearing and seeing stories of their early years allows children to gain a sense of identity and ensure them that they do matter in their family and in the world.  (3) Building Connections Family photographs help children to establish a deep and unshakable sense of belonging to their family. Seeing yourself surrounded by people you love through different stages of your life is very reassuring. Seeing yourself being kissed numerous times in the photos may help to be a little bit less jealous towards your baby sibling being kissed right now. Seeing how you used to have fun with your older sibling last month can bring you to the idea, that he deserves to live after all. Displaying family images in your home helps children to establish connection to others and reinforce their feeling of belonging. And this is the inevitable foundation of the self-esteem.  Thank you for reading! If you would like to improve your photography and start documenting your family in relaxed and creative way, please feel free to join my free photo challenge – Capture and Connect. Please send a request HERE More On The Blog:
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