Those cheesy photo smiles

Sarah still smiles fairly normally for pictures, but Amy has developed this super-cheesy deathly grin that she thinks is a "smile." And if we ask her to "smile softly" or "just look normal," she looks half-asleep or like she's about to throw up. :laughing: I'm going to have a year's worth of pictures of this kid making this ridiculous face. She could smile just fine at age 3! If your child did this, how long until they stopped?

 

It still hasn't stopped for my oldest :escape:



His didn't start till he was a bit older so maybe yours won't last as long ardon:

 

My girls are doing a lot better with it. Sarah has just started acting normal if you count posing like a movie star every time her picture is taken normal. Allison still wants to act goofy most of the time.

 

I find that if I get mine to say something besides cheese it helps. At easter they said easter. For their birthday they said birthday. It seemed to change their thought process and helped. It is worth a try.

 

My DD does the "CHEESE" smile already. :ibiggrin: Most of the time she doesn't even stop what she's doing or look up at me. She just puts on the big cheese grin and keeps on doing what she's doing. My DS doesn't even make eye contact when I try to take a photo. It's no wonder I still can't get a decent picture of them together.

 

It was sometime around 6 for us. They still do extra cheesy grins sometimes, but if I tell them to stop and smile properly they can. The messing around pulling silly faces then laughing uncontrolably is much harder to stop once it's started...

 

I used to try to get the kids (not mine, they're not at that age yet, but cousins) to smile by having them say really silly things, like "Casey has a banana foot" "Bryan has umbrella hair", which usually created laughter for 4 year olds which worked okay for pictures.

 

Another adult standing behind you being silly. They will laugh. I get my teens to do this for me, and I shoot rapidly, to catch that moment of laughter and the smiles that come just before and just after the laugh. A dorky assistant is the best bet.

 

I totally agree with acting silly yourself or getting them to say something really ridiculous. I often just make up a funny sounding word & they will smile as they try to figure out how to say it.