Incentivizing Kids For Family Portraits

4 Tips on Incentivizing Kids For Family Portraits

One of the most useful ways to get kids to participate in family portraits is to incentivize them. If they are motivated to have fun and participate, the session will be a “piece of cake” 🙂 You will know your child much better than I do. However, here are 4 tips on incentivizing kids for family portraits.

Start Off By Planning Something Fun For After The Session

One of the best ways of incentivizing kids for family portraits is to plan something fun for after the session. If your child is excited for something afterwards, they will most likely want to participate during the session. Some examples can be: going to a specific place to eat after the session; playing at the playground; or doing a fun activity as a family at home. Make sure to mention this incentive before the session. And it can also be mentioned during the session – if you notice that your child is losing focus.

Try Not To Give Them Your Phone or Another Device

One of the things I caution parents to do during the session is to give them your phone. In my experience, once you give them your phone – it will be hard to get their attention afterwards.

Bring Treats – But Do Not Tell Them

Another great way of incentivizing kids for family portraits is to give them treats. I recommend keeping this a secret and only bringing this out when necessary. I also recommend giving the treats out in little increments – not all at once. For example, you can provide them with a couple of fruit snacks and then resume taking pictures. As they continue on with the session, you can incentivize them with the rest of the snacks 😉

If You Have More Than One Child, Bring Each Their Own Snack

Lastly, you will also want to consider bringing each child their own treat. If you have multiple children, getting them to share one snack can be a disaster 🙂 As a parent, you will know what works best 🙂

Hopefully these quick tips will be helpful for your family portrait session! Thanks!