Older kid scrapping problems

N

newfiemountiewife

New member
My kids are older now, 14, 12, and 10. I find it SO hard to scrap with their pictures now, because they aren't wearing cute Gymboree outfits, or DOING anything cute LOL. Tell me I'm not the only one! :D
 
I think it's definitely harder. They're just not around as much, or willing, and the hours are packed but not with photo op worthy material. I wish I had a solution.


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Mine are soon to be 11 and 10....my son is the worst I think he rarely has "photo op" moments and doesn't particularly like to be in front of the lens either.

My daughter loves the camera, but still being older she's holed up in her room a lot more now, listening to music and being pre-teenish. Lol

For me, I try to capture little moments, like I'll snap pics in the morning before school while they're at the table just to catch them off guard and get some "real life" moments.

I think as they get even older, I'll probably go to photoless pages and just scrap stories, like favorites, moods, conversations, etc. Unless we have major events that I can take pics. Also, if your kids take selfies, steal some of those for some layouts.
 
My son wouldn't willingly let me take a photo of him since he was 3 and he's almost 20 - things are no better. My younger girls (15 and 13) are more willing to take pics - but selfies on their phones and getting them to download to my pc has proved impossible. Add to that that I have been camera less for almost 18 months and you can see I have a real problem! I am working on scanning in photos and am starting to scrap them. The trouble is that the quality isn't great and I feel a bit feeble about sharing layouts with them on, added to which is the fact that my memory is appalling and I am lucky if I can remember the where and when to add to the who!
 
I use a lot of Destiny's selfies now. I make her email me the full size, lol. After she posts to IG, they are too small!
I grab what I can of the boys. They are just pains at their ages, 19 and 11.
 
I think project life might be the way to go with the older kids, unless it's big events.

I've resisted it forever! LOL! But I think going to be adding a monthly PL spread to my scrapping this year. I'm assuming the older the kids get, the more I'll be switching to this.
 
Nope, definitely not the only one. My dd is 12 and LOVES having her picture taken, so she's not so hard, but I have to be careful WHAT I scrapbook. I don't think it would be fair for me to record anything about her life that I want to and put it in a book for everyone to see. KWIM?

Now the boys... ugh. The biggest problem is they don't do anything! They have a few activities and they do them over and over.

So I focus on myself more. I actually took a year break from scrapbooking altogether and when I restarted I've been making more of a time capsule of myself. I also started a homeschool scrapbook.
 
nesser1981 said:
I think project life might be the way to go with the older kids, unless it's big events.

I've resisted it forever! LOL! But I think going to be adding a monthly PL spread to my scrapping this year. I'm assuming the older the kids get, the more I'll be switching to this.
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I'm not a PL'er or much of an event scrapper LOL ( Now I'm feeling even more badass that I'm still making pages :D )
 
Oh, also, I'll use my iphone to snap some pics on the sly. Even if they turn out blurry it's better than nothing. I used the guilt-trip method with my 16 yo ds at the movies last week and made him take a selfie with me. Of course it's dark and grainy, but it's like gold to me.

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Keely~B said:
I'm not a PL'er or much of an event scrapper LOL ( Now I'm feeling even more badass that I'm still making pages :D )
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Heck yeah!

I do worry as mine get older, I'm still in a good place age wise for mine, but Coop is already getting harder.


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I always keep in my mind that memory keeping is more than just photos. It's about the stories we want to remember. I think as my girls get older, and they let me take fewer photos, more of their pages will be story focused rather than photo focused. I'll probably do lots of journalling about what they're like, what they're doing, how our relationship is etc. You don't need photos on every page.
 
Yeah I've totally found this to be a problem too! Although, this is where I've found project life to be awesome! There aren't adorable photoshoots like there used to be with my boys (14, 11, 10 and 7) but with the project life format little snapshots of things in our lives work out great because it doesn't have to be all about the perfect photo and more about just the story of our lives....
 
The first day of school is about the only time I try to get a good, clear, posed shot of the boys (11,10). They do not do selfies lol, so my pages will be photoless, about myself or Kyle, or with the grandbaby. The only one who will sit still is our new dog so maybe more puppy pages in my future lol!
 
Mine were born with the camera in their faces.... when I'm not snapping pictures they are begging me to snap pictures :mellow: it's almost bordering annoying. :o but these are the 'monsters' I created (all boys, 13, 10 and 8). I think what helps me not feel like I'm scrapping less as they get older is because there are lots of unplanned photo ops (extra cirricular activities, town events, trips to the lake etc etc that we do all the time... I make a huge deal out of holidays, and plan photo shoots a couple times of year so I think they 'play along' with our usual photo ops for my sake.... I never force them, but they know Moms always there with the camera so they just go with the flow. LOL My two older boys also do Scrapbooking in 4H so I think because they know more of the "why" we do it, they appreciate the photo ops a lil more). I think I will die a little inside once they do finally stop playing along, but like everyone here has said, that's when PL pages become more important.... PLUS there's always Art Journalling ;) Besides, I always have my addiction to selfies and my dog to fall back on ;)lmbo!
 
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My kids don't even like taking selfies and pics with friends. They are old enough to remember their own stories now if they want to record them. I record things that are meaningful to ME so they can have the perspective down the road if they want. Pics or not.
 
Now that Cheyanne is in high school I definitely have less photos but I make sure I get the big events (special dances, sports, holidays) and I have her send me selfies. I also have her in the habit now of making sure she takes photos with her phone when she's out places without me - photos with her team on bus rides, photos after school at club meetings, practices, out at the mall, movies, etc. She tells me everything so I always have plenty of stories to journal with the photos even though I wasn't there.
 
Mine aren't at that stage yet (ages 6 and 8) though they will occasionally protest about me taking their photos... but then I do take ALOT so it probably feels like I always have the camera in their faces. I too will be sad about less photos ops as they get older...
 
My oldest is 11 and has been anti-photo for years. Like others have said, Project Life has been a great way to keep including him in the albums even when he doesn't want to be photographed. I can include the stack of books he's reading, an assignment that came home from school, something he drew or built, etc. It's also easier to use the "bad" photos that I get every few weeks in a PL page than a standalone page. When I get a rare good photo, that's when I make a standalone page about him. Luckily I can still bribe for photos and there are times he's proud of something and wants to be photographed with it, so I wait for those opportunities and try not to have the camera in his face all the time since that just makes him even less interested in having his picture taken.

A few times in last year's PL I included a blurry shot of him leaving when I pulled out the camera and wrote a little blurb about him not liking to be photographed. If he's looking back in future years, I want him to know that it was his choice to be included less, not mine.
 
My kids are 9 and 12. So far I don't have any problems getting pictures of them. No, they don't wear the cutesy outfits and such and the pages I scrap are nothing like the pages I scrapped of them as babies, but I still find things to scrap about at this point. Like Jenn, my kids were born with the camera in their face and they know that me taking pictures is just part of life. When we go on vacation or to an event, they know that pictures are my souvenir. I don't ask for much. They are usually happy to oblige. What helps is to have them take a silly picture, a good one, and then another silly one. At some point they may well start fussing about the pictures but I'm going to keep snapping them for as long as they will let me.

I've had the opportunity the past two years to follow my son around at school. I'm the resident photographer at work because I do the yearbook and take pictures to send to the newspaper so I am always running around getting pictures. He's so used to it by now. LOL Actually, at this point all 215 of my 2nd and 3rd graders are. ;)
 
jacinda said:
I always keep in my mind that memory keeping is more than just photos. It's about the stories we want to remember. I think as my girls get older, and they let me take fewer photos, more of their pages will be story focused rather than photo focused. I'll probably do lots of journalling about what they're like, what they're doing, how our relationship is etc. You don't need photos on every page.
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My son is 8 and I've started to see some of this already. I think part of it is that I'm loosing the habit of taking a camera long. When they are little it's so easy to take a TON of pictures! :p I think I could solve part of my problem by caring my camera around.

What I have also noticed is that my pages are definitely moving more toward telling stories. And the pictures themselves are more about their stuff, or an object that tells the story, (rather than the cute Gymboree outfits. :crying:) I just made this page tonight which I think is ubiquitous of what you are describing:

 
Another thing that I've found about scrapping older kids is that I'm less comfortable speaking for them through my journaling. I can scrap the facts, list their interests or strengths, and include a few quotes, but it's much harder to capture their true personalities on a page. Some things, like DS's anxieties or relationships with friends, are his story to tell or not tell now that he's older. I also try to stay away from negative reactions. For example, DS's competitive nature toward his siblings drives us nuts. When he was 6 I could scrap a page about that without it being a big deal. Now I wouldn't give it more than a brief mention on a more positive page. I want him to feel loved and appreciated when he looks through our albums, not judged.
 
krystalhartley said:
My kids don't even like taking selfies and pics with friends. They are old enough to remember their own stories now if they want to record them. I record things that are meaningful to ME so they can have the perspective down the road if they want. Pics or not.
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You've said it wonderfully.
 
My boys aren't so into having their pics taken either, but at this age (7, 10, and 11), they still do it for me because they know I'm obsessed with pics and photo shoots LOL. Now my daughters, I don't expect them to be an issue for a LONG time. They are both into photo shoots, plus now that my older dd (13) has an ipod, she is constantly taking selfies. I plug her ipod into my computer every once in a while and get all her pics.
 
krystalhartley said:
I record things that are meaningful to ME so they can have the perspective down the road if they want. Pics or not.
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I really like that perspective Krystal! In the meantime, I'll enjoy the fact that mine is still little enough to wear cute Gymboree outfits and doesn't mind the camera and my impromptu photo sessions! :wub:
 
I haven't reached that - yet - but if I ask J to pose for me, I get that forced smile and that annoys me... haha... what I did on our vacation - and think I will do more often - I gave J the camera (I had my iphone)... it was cool to see what he thought was "interesting" to him... we have a lot of photos of the information sign in spanish... :D
 
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