When I built my first house, before kids, it was beautiful. I took pains to make everything stylish and coordinated – right down to the pictures I chose for the walls.

I remember I scoured the shops and markets for “artwork” that would fit the style and theme I was going for and I spent hundreds of dollars for a triptych of some misty mountains that I’d never visited, had no idea where they were BUT they were the right colour! Now, it’s the era of the Yak. I’ve seen hundreds of them in houses all over social media and in so many stores.

When I had kids, slowly, over the years, those misty mountains and other random pictures were taken down and replaced with portraits of my children and family. You see, I’d grown up with only a handful of photos. My older brother and sister had lots but my younger brother and I kind of missed out. I always remember seeing the older two’s beautiful portraits displayed proudly and it bothered me a little. I didn’t understand why, but it did.

As I grew up, I understood that Mum and Dad had needed to finance a home and the education and care of a family with 4 kids. No easy feat at anytime in history. Professional portraits didn’t feature on the priority list.

When I had my own children, I vowed to make sure they had more than a handful of photos and that their portraits would be displayed … and I did. I couldn’t afford to have them done annually by a professional but I made sure the milestones were covered and the rest I filled in with (not too shabby) snapshots.

Out of interest, I did some research and it didn’t surprise me that a correlation was found between displaying children’s photographs and their self esteem. Phototherapy is a thing and there are lots of, somewhat heavy, articles written about it, however I found this easy to read explanation that might interest you. It has some references that you can Google if you are as fascinated as I am. https://designaglow.com/blogs/design-aglow/17493452-how-family-portraits-boost-your-child-s-self-esteem?fbclid=IwAR3xZRnvJAc2TqWYPTuU5lfGAp9N2FzuEbljg9578PnCESNolGpDokdU3UM

Bottom line? Ditch the Yak. Yeah, he’s cute but your family and kids are your own personal works of art and deserve to take pride of place on your walls and in your albums and a good professional will plan everything with you so that those works of art can also be stylish and fit in with your decor if that’s what you want.

Cheers
Pam