I am often asked....

"How do you get your kids to cooperate for pictures?" The short answer is: I don't. But if I think about it a little longer I can come up with a few things I do in an attempt to get them to do what I want like bribery offering fruit snacks or marshmallows for boys who follow directions. When it comes to photographing my own kids, though, I always seem to get out of sweet, conversational photographer mode and go directly into impatient mommy mode. I think this is why it's universally more difficult to take pictures of your own kids than it is to have someone else (besides their parent) take them. They have figured out how to tune out Mommy's voice, but they still listen to people they don't know as well.
When I am in photographer mode, I don't use bribes or get impatient. There's no bargaining with kids. Depending on the age, I ask questions, play games, act silly, sing songs. I also do a little bit of shooting them while they do what THEY want to do. This often captures their personality the most, although it's not going to be a perfectly poised and smiling for the camera type shot either. Doing this also gives their little cheeks a break from all that smiling and makes them feel like they are getting to make some choices. I just wish I could remember to do this with my own kids.
Despite my bad mommy moments, we managed to get a couple cute shots.