“You wore glasses?!” I hear from over my shoulder.
“I did, but only for a couple years”, I respond to my stunned 5-year-old.
“You looked like Papa” he replies.
I laugh. He loves his Papa so I take it as a compliment, I mean what 9 year-old doesn’t strive to look like a 60-year old man?
As he wanders away, I snap shut the photo album I’ve been scrutinizing. I realize how lucky I am that my mom took the time to put this album together and that she captured the unfiltered essence of my childhood on film in the first place.
I pull this album out every so often to remind myself about the importance of mediocrity.
When parents of past generations grabbed their cameras to snap pictures of their kids, the emphasis was on the subject, not the lighting, angles, or overall creativity of the shot. There were no fancy filters or face-slimming, and eye enlargement technology.
In the age of social media and ever evolving camera technology it’s too easy to filter or even delete the imperfections of childhood. And this is troublesome given that, for most of us, Instagram and other social media platforms are quickly replacing family photo albums (special shout out to those who actually print pictures these days).
The most common argument I hear for sharing imperfect pictures is that “no one’s life is perfect and posting only perfect pictures can set unrealistic standards for other parents trying to "keep up with the Joneses”". While I agree with this to an extent, I also believe that most adults can appreciate that Instagram isn’t real life, and there’s always more to the (Insta)story.
However, here are 3 things I feel are important to remember before tapping that garbage can on those #mediocre pictures:
1. Your kids will be 12-years -old someday
When your beautiful soul hits those messy preteen years, where nothing looks right and everything feels off, you'll want to make sure they have a collection of “awkward childhood photos” so despite how self-conscious they may feel, they know that at least they aren’t wearing an oversized shoulder-poofed-floral dress with clashing red blossom hat.
The Instagram shots you share today set the bar for the future. Try explaining to your 12-year-old that they don’t need to look like a model on a magazine cover, if the only pictures you have ever presented to the world are ones where they look like just that.
2. Your kids will experience “young love”
Family photo albums can provide a sort of relationship barometer to help your kids determine how “special” relationships really are. Their comfort with a person perusing a collection of their childhood imperfections can act as a litmus test for when they may be ready to bring them home to meet the family. The pictures you share now can provide them with some guidance that they won’t ask for later.
How un-daunting would it be to bring people home to see a pseudo-professional portfolio of baby, toddler and child glamour shots versus this?
3. Your kids will struggle with adulting someday
When your kids are faced with the realities of being an adult, leave them pictures to remind them that they don’t need to prioritize perfection and that they weren’t always preoccupied with what other people thought.
Take this picture of me running cross country in khaki pants and a sweater as a beautiful illustration of this. Given my outfit, there’s no doubt that mom forgot it was cross-country day however despite outing herself as someone who may not have been completely on the ball, she chose to capture my determination to cross that finish line khaki pants and all.
I’ll admit, there’s nothing quite like capturing your perfectly made up child in beautiful light, but sometimes the spirit of childhood is best represented by disheveled hair, muddy pants and a lack of focus so make sure to capture and hold on to those ones too.
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