Life changed in a heartbeat
The only photo of my Dad and I was taken on my wedding day…
Growing up I had always been close to my Dad and shared a special bond with him. He loved fishing, and from a young age I loved going out on his punt and he would teach me all his fishing tricks. I could never sleep on a car journey, so when we were driving on family holidays we would chat all the way, while everyone else slept around us. He ran an orchid nursery and I loved being able to work with him on the weekends & school holidays.
When I got married and moved away from home, we developed an even stronger bond; He was the first person I would call when I had a problem, needed some advice or a shoulder to cry on. He was an amazing Grandpa to my 3 kids. My parents retired to a property in Bowral, and he loved teaching the kids about his cattle, riding horses, feeding the chooks and gardening. The perfect weekend getaway for city kids.
On August 8th, 2011 I received a phone call that shook me to the core, my Dad was being rushed to the hospital.
5 minutes later we received another call to say that he had passed away from a massive heart attack….he was only 68… I believed my Dad would be around forever, that he as a doting granddad would watch my kids grow up… and in a heartbeat that was all taken away from me.
My brother, sister and I took on the responsibility of arranging his funeral, as my mum was in total shock. I offered to put together a slideshow of family photos for his service. I cried as I was sifting through all of those memories, There were Santa photos taken religiously every year, the summer holidays at our favourite place with photos of us all on the jetty proudly holding the fish we had caught, watersking and swimming in the lake, and our birthday parties….
The only photo of my Dad and I was the photo below, taken on my wedding day…
I will forever wish that could have been different...
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Mums Need to be in Photos Too!
DO YOU AS A MUM, EXIST IN PHOTOS WITH YOUR KIDS?
Give your children the memories that they deserve and show them just how beautiful each and every one of you can be.
As a mum, you are almost always super busy holding down the fort, right? It seems there are always lunches to be packed, clothes to be washed, outings to plan. The vast majority of the things that you do for your family each and every day goes undocumented. Heck, sometimes it even goes completely unnoticed!
Unfortunately, because mums are generally the ones doing all the “things”, they are also the ones taking the majority of the pictures. Having a ton of photographs of your kids is great! You will love looking at them and reminiscing, but since mum is almost always taking the pictures, it means she isn’t in very many of them. Oftentimes, mum is actively avoiding being caught in any of those photos due to various insecurities.
You need to fix that, mum. You’ve got to switch to being on the other side of the camera sometimes, and here is why.
Your Children Deserve the Memories
It may be hard to think about, but someday, you won’t be here anymore. And when that day comes, all your kiddos will have left is the photos of you. They are going to want to look back at those good times and see your smiling face. The way they remember it.
But if you don’t put yourself in front of the lens once in a while, they will be left with very few glimpses of the person you once were. These moments that you are all enjoying together, all these milestones, should be documented with you in the mix, not hiding out behind the camera.
You Want to Teach Your Daughter to Love Herself
Of course, you want to teach all of your children to love themselves, but in our society, it is especially important to teach your daughter that you love yourself. Society is going to be rough on your girl, mum. It is going to constantly tell her to look thinner, younger, and more beautiful. She needs to see your confidence, and she needs to see you loving yourself even if you don’t fit into society’s ideas of what is beautiful. In fact, she needs to see you loving yourself ESPECIALLY if you don’t fit into what society deems beautiful.
Every time you cringe at the sight of a camera pointed in your direction or run to hide from the flash, you are showing your daughter that you don’t consider yourself worthy of being in the photo. You are showing your children that you don’t think of yourself as beautiful. Is that really the lesson you want to be teaching them?
Give your children the memories that they deserve and show them just how beautiful each and every one of you can be. Scheduling a family photo shoot with a professional family photographer is a great way to love your photos. The photographer will know exactly how to flatter all of you and make everyone look their absolute best. You will love the memories that you are creating, and your kids will love looking back on them when they are all grown up with kids of their own.