3 Tips For Keeping Little Ones Happy During A Session

Ok so its the day of your family session. You’ve been waiting for weeks and it’s finally here! You’re so excited, you have you’re outfits all laid out but oh no! You hear your little one having a total melt down in the next room! Your first thought is, I hope this doesn’t happen during our session! You’ve been through enough meltdowns at this point to know there are a few main culprits that fuel meltdowns; Being tired, hungry or not fully prepared for what is happening. Or even more likely their brother or sister hit them, but we aren’t covering that one today!

Tip #1 To make sure your day is everything you have hoped and planned, make sure your little ones get enough rest. The best way to do this is to plan their nap schedule around your session. I’d recommend adding an extra hour to how long you think they will nap when you plan out your schedule because that could just be the day they decide to take a 3 hour nap instead of their normal 2 hours. So if you are not sure how this looks if your session is at 3pm make sure they are down no later than 10am. So if they do decide to take a 3 hour napping session you have an hour between nap and when you need to head out to your session to get them fed and cleaned up.

Tip #2 Make sure your little ones have full belly’s. Do you remember those Snickers commercials, “You’re not you when you’re hungry”? They sure knew what they were talking about didn’t they? Many of us can get a little hangry when we are hungry so the best way to avoid this is to either eat a hearty healthy meal before your session or if its not around meal time, give them a hearty healthy snack. The reason I suggest a healthy snack is mainly because those are typically the types of snacks that will hold off hunger the longest. Things like yogurt and granola, Peanut butter crackers, trail mix or even a smoothie if they are into them. I recommend giving them snacks at home and not in the car while dressed for their session. Even if the snack you provide is not technically a messy snack you just never know what they will manage to do with it in that back seat! You can also bring snacks and water to the session if you need to! Just make sure they are not messy!

Tip #3 Last tip is to prepare your little ones emotionally and mentally. Meeting a stranger is hard enough as it is but having to interact with that stranger and having her hold a camera in your face the whole time is a whole other thing! As an introverted adult that scenario even makes me a little uncomfortable! The best way to prepare them for this is to talk them through whats going to happen, set expectations and also talk through rewards for doing their best. If your little one needs rewards immediately to reinforce good behavior like snacks, be sure to pack ones that aren’t messy and wont get on their clothes. Something like fruit snacks would work. If your child can handle delayed reward make sure they know what’s waiting for them if they can cooperate for just a little while. I recommend something that they love so much they are willing to work for it. Chick-fil-a is my family’s go to! One last thing I’d like to recommend is not allowing your child to have screen time right before their session. That might seem weird at first but if your kids have favorite shows they love to watch or games they love to play you know how hard it is to tell them time’s up. Going from time’s up for their favorite show to what in their mind is going to be the most boring thing ever may make tempers flare.

One last thing I’d like to add is make sure your little ones use the restroom before coming to their session. Some session locations may not have a restroom and having your little tell you they need to use the restroom the minute you step out the car is sure to put a damper on things! I hope these short tips help you in preparing for your upcoming session! I can’t wait to meet you!

xo

Christa