How to Get a 21 Mo. Old to Hold Still for Pictures???

We've gotten a group of 7 kids under the age of 5 to sit still by singing "Happy Birthday"--they all just stared at us like we were crazy, but were all smiling.

well...it definitely helps to have an awesome photographer :) I've found being extremely entertaining as a mom can stop them in their tracks and make em smile for a moment :) So my best advice, if he won't hold still, jump around, make funny faces, make funny noises, and it might help if you practice ahead of time...bribery works at that age, you could make a game of it...for every second he can stay still and smile give him some treat :) Good luck!

Bubbles are good for a quick look in the right direction, and a pause in action.
On the otherhand, our FAVORITE picture of my son is when he was being so hard.....he was learning to crawl and would do so at like 60mph, with NO sitting for breaks. He was barefoot, wearing little overalls and a cowboy shirt with the sleeves rolled up.....his hair was messed up because he was too active. I was aggrivated and said "GET HIM" to my husband, who grabbed him by the straps on his overalls and lifted him. The photographer snapped the camera in midswing, and the look on his face, dangling by his straps, legs and arms askew, and one long stream of saliva...it was hilarious. It was all him (personality) at that time, and 2 years and a million pictures later, it's everyone's favorite. Sometimes, you just gotta redefine what a "good" picture means.

Good luck. This is why we've only done professional pictures once in 4 years of having kids. All our other pictures have been taken by us, friends, or relatives.

Our son hates having pictures taken - but you put something on TV in front of him, he's the best behaved kid. If you have a portable DVD player, perhaps you can district him with that in front of him long enough to get a good photo.....if he's into stuff like that.

We don't even try because we know it's going to be a small miracle to happen.

Good luck! lol. It's near impossible to get them to sit still at that age. You may luck out and have a photographer who can get him to sit just long enough to snap a picture...but otherwise you may just have to make-do with whatever picture you can get. Almost any pic I've sent out with my daughter not sitting perfectly is the pictures it seems my family display in their house. So you may get a REALLY cute semi-action shot.

I just had my childrens pictures taken and was jsut wanting one good one of them together (they are 19 months and 8 months). My little one is like your 4 year old she is easy and had fun with it and my son was to interested in all the stuff in the room. Just be open to whatever of their props he is interested in being in the picture and you should get a great one. For my son it was a teddy bear and the bathtub but they should have all kinds of stuff you should be able to find something. Also be patient the best pictures you are gonna get are the ones of him jsut being himself interacting with whatever he likes instead of a forced position.

A good photographer should be able to handle this with not much trouble. It is very common for kids this age. The best children photographers give the kids a little freedom and act fast to capture the shot. ...and, if you fuss and worry about it, the kids pick up on it.

when my kids were small we were having a family portrait done and separate shots of the kids. when it was just the kids getting their's done they did not want to behave. the photographer asked me to go to the other side of the room where they couldn't see me. i didn't think this would work but i did it anyway and he was able to get a good picture right away. hope this helps.

The best way to get pictures is to find a professional photographer that either has a studio in his/her home and schedules appropriately for children, or a photographer that can come to your home and do some lifestyle portraits of your kids.

Places like Wal Mart, Sears, JCPenney, etc don't give you enough time, the photographer isn't a professional, and you likely won't get what you want but will end up spending out the nose for pictures anyway.

I'm a photographer, I just had two kids here on Weds, a 6mo old downs syndrome baby, and her 4yr old sister. they were here for 2hrs.... and I took about 60 pictures of the girls together and seperate. It took that long so the girls could relax and play, get a snack, and get outo f the 'spotlight' for a few minutes to relax.

Find a local photographer, so you can get the pictures you want without stressing your kids out.

A great photographer will be able to do it in a snap (no pun intended).

Tricks:

- Avoid fussing. Messing with this article of clothing or that strand of hair, or excessive posing needs to be avoided at all cost.

- Snacks. Make sure they're well fed.

- Smiles. As a species we're conditioned to smile when other's smile. The more you're smiling & the less you're stressed... the more the kids will smile.

- The "classic". You will LOVE these pictures in 10 years. The scrunched up wailing "I DON'WANNA'BE'HERE" pic is utterly adorable... because it's so very darn age appropriate, and that phase (as you know with your 4yo who can smile on command) is so short. Parents and grandparents just l.o.v.e. these photos, and they bring on a whole rush of memories of our little ones doing the exact same thing. They're as poignant as baby shoes, little gummy grins, falling asleep on a shoulder... all the things kids grow out of.

I feel that after 18 months, it is sooo hard to get a good picture of them at a photo studio until they are like 3 or 4. Especially boys. I had a photographer come to the house and we were able to get one awesome pic of my son who at that time was about 21 months. I have given up going to the photostudio for a while because all he wants to do is leave! You can try bringing a favorite toy or snack and try to make it fun. Hopefully he will pick up cues from your daughter and you can get some really good ones. I get great pics at home of my son by doing Peek-a-boo.

Bubbles. Balloons. Balls.

An awesome photographer who will capture "real life moments" of your kids! (And possibly an expectation that they won't turn out "super", so that you will be pleasantly surprised if you get a couple of great shots!)

Good luck - I know how you feel. I have 3 wiggly boys, and in the last 6 months, I've only ever been able to capture 2 "good" photos of them together. Thank goodness for digital cameras! :)

That is a tough age for pictures. What worked for me was having them sit on a chair or block etc. They do eventually want to get up, but it may work to get at least 1 or 2 shots. Good luck!

Portrait Innovations is AWESOME with kids. :-)
Places that have the still camera shots are a headache to have kids pics taken...
Portrait Innovations has a store in Grandville.

We first used them in PA when we had 3 generation photos of the whole family taken... 15 people... 4 of those were under 4 yrs old. They WORK hard to get those awesome pics that you love. :-)

We then used them for our family pics... We had a 6, 3, 1 yr old at the time... Once again... they took their time, had 2 different people working with us wrangling kids and getting the smiles... (including flying monkeys and farting monkeys... anything to get the smiles) My 18 month old at the time refused to sit and the 3 yr old was trying so hard not to smile there are tears in his eyes... But they are so flexible with the poses that you LOVE what you get... They just keep clickin at the cuteness that happens instead of trying to get a preset pose. Unless that is one YOU ask for... They took close to 90 pics... The cameras are in their hands... You leave WITH the pics! And they give you a disc of ALL the pics they took!!!

And cost wise they are VERY reasonable!!!!

Every time we went to a "store studio" it was nerve wracking to have to balance a wiggly munchkin on those stands and not have them fall off...

I'm glad it all worked out well. I am an amateur photographer and have the hardest time getting my kids to cooperate. But when I've taken them to a studio, they're ANGELS. It's so not fair! But there's something about being in a strange place with a strange person. They're curious about what's going to happen or something! They're always super cooperative, and we get great shots every time. When I'm taking them, it takes us at least an hour and about 500 frames to get 4-5 good ones. It's horrible!

I agree, you must find a great photographer. When I got my kiddos pics taken, I worked harder than the photographer trying to make them smile. I dont think it should be that way.
I think bubbles might help keep their attention too as long as they dont get in the shot. Also, being in a fun and natural setting would help too to get a natural unposed pic.
Good luck finding a photographer!

giving treats between photos...like something small they can snack on. We've done M&M's, fruit snacks, goldfish crackers or skittles because they are quick and usually don't make a mess. Then when you say smile...they usually do if your holding up a treat. Might not be the right way but has always worked for me and my sister.

We usually take all 4 of our kids together. And they are close in age so its like have 2 sets of twins.

My son is 19 months old and he is very active. I get him to say cheese every time I have a camera and he will stop everything to look at me and say cheese. I also show him the picture. He might surprise you and sit for them. They deal with children all the time. I have six children and they can get them all to take a very good picture. Lots of luck!

Leave it to the photographer. They have all their own tricks for that. They do it every day and are skilled at snappin the photo at just the right moment. No worries.

Plan on only one or two good pics with both kids. My daughter refused to sit still at all for her pics at that age. i think the pics we have though are some of the best she took though. They turned out great, because they were able to capture who she was at that time. i have to say the problem I ran into more, was that her brother who was 7, didn't like staying in one spot, while we got his sister to work with us. So while getting the one to do it, watch the other one. We had to have the 7 year old, just keep looking at the camera smiling so as soon as his sister was in a good spot we snapped the pic right away.

I would maybe see does she have a favorite way to sit, or a favorite toy that you can take along, that will make her sit still for the pic. you may not wnt the toy in the pic, but if you place it just right, it won't be in the pics at all.