How to Wrangle a 3 year Old . . . {Children’s photography Session}

This is Chloe.  She has a perfect 3 year old smile and brings beautiful outfits for her yearly photo shoot.  For all intents and purposes, she arrives at my studio to have pictures taken.  But, what 3 year old REALLY wants to have “pictures” taken?   Not many.  They come to the studio to play with ME, not sit in front of a camera.  “Smell the flower Chloe”, I said.  “I don’t wanna smell the flower.”

“But, these are the most beautiful flowers EVER Chloe, and they match your outfit,” I beg.

Not a chance.  Chloe points out that these flowers have ants on them.  “I don’t like flowers either, Chloe. They make me sneeze. AAAAAAAAHHHHHH-CHHHOOOOOO!”

And she CRACKS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!  Gotcha!  Got the photo.  And a few afterward I think are just priceless.  I LOVE a 3 year old.

So, here are a few of the tricks of the trade for wrangling a 3 year old for a photo shoot!  These are tricks moms can use too!

1.  Establish trust:  It may mean putting your camera down for a few minutes and building a connection so the child doesn’t feel threatened.  Moms, it NEVER fails, the moment you whip out the camera your child suddenly becomes Satan’s spawn.  They stick out their tongue, flash their belly, pick their nose, you get the picture.  The trick is to make them forget they are being photographed.  For me, this is with chatter.  Which leads me to my 2nd point.

2. Distraction:   I have the gift of gab.  It’s annoying to some, but a 3 year old gets me.  Talk, tell stories, whisper, change your voice pitch, etc.  Something to keep them interested in YOU, not the camera.  Farm Animal Sounds are my favorite go-to noises.  I love a COW, DUCK, AND FROG.  I am great at a monkey sound. Which leads to my 3rd point . . .

3.  Lose All Dignity:  3 year olds don’t care about how cute I dress or what camera strap I have, they have an attention span that’s only 2 minutes long, so you better put some things in your arsenal for the worst case scenario moments.  BOYS, especially like noise, armpit noise, blowing rasberries, which can also substitute for fart sounds.  Yes, I said it. Fart noises are perfect for 3 year old BOYS.  Call it something cuter, but I have to be honest.   I had a little boy for years who made me pretend I had a shank behind my back during his shoot (ahem, Parker Williams).  I constantly said, “Shank-Shank”  and he would DIE laughing, not literally.  🙂

4. Reward: All 3 year olds LOVE a reward.  I typically bake chocolate chip cookies for all my clients as soon as they cut teeth.  Just last week, during a Mother’s day shoot, I reminded one of my school-aged clients, Logan Sizemore, cookies were waiting at the end.  He said, “Well, thank GODDDDDDDD!”   Cause, why else would he come right?  He’s been here so many times he knows where the cookies are and how to bake them himself.  It didn’t hurt to remind him.  A 3 year old loves any kind of sugar.  Cookies are a cheap way to bribe, and hey, I get to send them loaded up and they go home with mom right?

Thanks for reading my “How to wrangle a 3 year old” story.  Here are some adorable images from Chloe’s 3rd Birthday Session using all the tactics listed above!

~Suzanne