Cheese Coming Out of Your Kid’s Mouths

It will come once a year and start as early as preschool. It could stress out your wife in the early years and stress out your kid in the later years. It is school picture time and believe it or not, you do need to care about them. But with a bit of preparation and the willingness to learn from Noodad, you will be alright.

First we need to clear away any baggage you may be brining to the table. Caring about looking good for school pictures is not vain. Nor is it for just the female set. Although you may be taking poodad loads of pics of your kids, the school picture is THE picture that marks the year. It is THE picture that will serve as a visual bookmark for the grade. They may not really care when they are young, but they will definitely care when they get older. Dropping the ball should not be an option.

Here are some tips for the big day:

CLOTHING
Don't be the guy that lets their kid wear a t-shir to the class picture. There always seems to be one in every class. Unfortunately, even if you don't know the kid or the parents, you take them down a notch in the sophistication scale when you see the picture. For you dads of school age kids, it could have been a case of your kid not bringing home the paperwork. But if your kid is at preschool and you personally go into their class with them every day, you really do not have any excuse.

{mosnooad}Some people are under the belief that if the kid wants to wear their little league uniform for picture day, they should. These are the same kids who grow up and get married in a cutoff flannel shirt and cutoff jeans.

You should avoid clothing with words, faces, and obnoxious colors and patterns. In a sea of properly dressed classmates, you don't want your kid looking like Nick Nolte's mugshot. Teach your kids at an early age that these days, you wear something nice.

PICTURE PACKAGES
Your kid will need to bring payment during picture day. Make sure you don't forget! Noodad.com is going to be boycotted by school photographers for the following statement, but my allegiance is to you, the faithful reader so here goes:

Only buy the 8X10 print. It will cost you like $10 bucks and once you get it, scan it and reprint in wallet sizes on your photo printer. It is a little more legwork on your end, but the savings can be significant. My wife and I have been doing this for years and we estimate we save about $60 per picture day because of it. (We have a lot of relatives who all "Have to" have a pic)

SAY CHEESE
It is ok to want your kid to smile for the camera. But it isn't ok to demand that they do. In the end, you know, your kid is going to do whatever they want to do. But if they do typically smile for cameras, teach them to do a real smile instead of a fake one. A good way to do this is to tell them a funny story or have them imagine a funny image when they are posing. The grosser and the more outrageous, the better.

I told my daughter about a clown on rollerskates that had applesauce on his head. She found that hilarious and when you remind her of it, she legitimately smiles. Obviously, tailor your funny image to the funny bones of your kids. Typically that means boys skew towards bodily functions and potty humor, for instance.

Follow these steps, noodads, and you will have a great picture (at a great price) that you and your family will enjoy and your kids will not kill you over. Good luck.