Rachel Kiser
Blogger | Mom of Two
As a mom, I have fallen into many roles over the last seven years. The schedule-keeper, the booboo kisser, the snack maker, the referee, the photo-taker.
Is my own schedule often in pieces? Yes. Is anyone else making me a snack? Usually not.
And the photos. Where are all the photos of me and the kids?
To be fair, I do sometimes dodge them. Excuses like it’s first thing in the morning! or my hair is a mess! can often find their way out of my mouth.
Marie Katherine Backstrom penned this lovely Facebook post that hits the nail right on the head. Although I have already given up a lot of my vanity when it comes to personal photos of the family, her words further encouraged me to do it for my kids.
Dear men, husbands, people who love us,
On behalf of mamas everywhere, I have an important request:
Take our picture.
Even when we complain, even when our hair is a mess. Even when we are wearing a dingy, oversized sweatshirt.
I know this isn’t something on the forefront of your mind, and that’s okay. We don’t need every special moment documented…but, let’s be honest.
We spend a lot of time doing just that for everyone else.
Please.
Take our picture.
Even when we fuss about how “chubby” we think we look in our swimsuit. If you see us splashing and laughing loudly with our babies in the heat of a gorgeous summer day — I don’t care if we are nine months pregnant (*ahem*)
Take our picture.
Even if we moan that the angle isn’t good or our smile looks a little insane, I promise you this: We want to be seen. We want to be remembered. And it means the world to us when you take our picture.
You may not realize it now, but we’ve taken hundreds of sneaky photos of you and the people you love.
When we see you snuggled on the couch with our babies or playing catch in the backyard, our hearts fill with joy and we can’t help but take your picture.
Or maybe you DO realize it, and it’s a little bit annoying. I can understand that, too.
But here is a little reminder of these pictures are SO dang important:
One day, we won’t be around for our babies.
One day, you and I will be gone and what will remain of us will be the memories we’ve captured of this beautiful life we made.
One day, our kids will gather around a table and scroll through images of these precious, fleeting days.
They will cry and laugh and commiserate.
They will say “Remember that vacation? Remember that day?”
And it will be so, so beautiful.
But if every single picture was taken by their mama, guess who won’t be in those memories?
Men, husbands, people who love us,
Take our picture.
The mother of your children deserves to be seen, documented, and remembered.
Not through posed family portraits or hundreds of selfies. But as who she was — who she is NOW — in those real, special life moments.
I know we complain and we don’t make it easy. Love us enough to do it, anyways.
For our sake and for yours.
For the sake of our babies
Take our picture.
See what I mean? Instant tears.
I am someone who enjoys healthy sentimentality. When the mood strikes, going through pictures with the people involved, laughing and crying, is one of my favorite things. Nostalgia can be beautiful at the same time that it is often painful. It’s what makes it so special.
I want my kids to have plenty to lay their eyes on when they reflect on their childhood, and when they set out to remember who their Mom was. They may not have storied in their own memories the times that I crawled inside their box forts or let them give me a ‘makeover’, but if there are pictures to prove it, they may just get to know me a little better that day because of them.
About Rachel Kiser
Rachel is a wife and mother living in Raleigh, North Carolina. She’s a fan of good coffee, wearer of gray t-shirts, and is constantly starting books she will never finish. Her family is her joy, and she loves to engage with other moms and dads on matters of parenting. Her blog posts have also been featured on the Today Show Parenting Blog and Scary Mommy.
View all posts by Rachel Kiser here.
9 Comments on “This Mom’s Post About Making Sure We’re in Pictures Is Spot On”
I definitely wanna take more pictures of my family. I don’t have many pictures of me as a child and I forgot a lot of my childhood. I love this view on it all.
This is so beautiful and I wholeheartedly agree. Sometimes pictures are all you have of certain memories. I am a single mom. But I will always encourage my family and best friends to take the picture even if I complain about it
I honestly never thought about it this way. Makes me sad to think I’m not in many pictures. I’m definitely going to change that now.
My five year old takes some of my pictures. They are not the best but I love them.
I love this, and it’s absolutely true. So many times in the one behind the camera trying to capture the memories but will babies even know that I was there sharing in the fun and laughter with them. I want then to have memories of me and my hushed of course and I’m the first one complain about the way I look. But I think about my hushed when I read this, he has no idea where his mom is and has only one single picture of her. I can see the same in him and if hate for that tu be my girls when they grow up.
I love this! Often times I’m the one capturing moments and memories so I’m rarely pictured in them!
Growing up my mom would be the one taking the pictures and she was never in them! She did a great job of photographing my brother and I throughout our lives but I miss pictures of our whole family.
I took lots of pictures when my children where growing up, not that many of me, but some. It is nice to look at them brings so much memories.
My Sister doesn’t really like being in photos and neither do my parents.
My Sister & Dad are the worst when it comes to family pictures because they don’t like being photographed. I think it’s important that people are in photos, because one day they will no longer be with us and we won’t have any pictures to share with our future kids or to remember them by. Photos from when they were kids, vacation pics, funny pics and many others are all things that we can look at and be reminded of the people we love. I have pics of my niece from when she was a baby, time has gone by so quickly and it seems like she was a new baby only yesterday. The pictures we have feature my niece, my Mum, Dad, Grandmother, myself and a few other people that both myself and my niece will keep to remember them when we are older in the future :)
Picture albums are also a good thing to keep and to add things to over the years :)