Did you know…
Printing and Displaying Photos in your Home Cultivates Confidant Kids and Strengthens Families
I have always felt a deep pull to document and record significant parts of my life and cherished relationships. I’ve always known it was important to me, but I never really stopped to wonder why. Recently, while listening to Ralphie Jacobs, from Simply on Purpose, I realized that there have been many scientific studies done as to why it is important to document and display your family life through photos. Her brief mention of these studies led me on a search to learn more.
This slower less hectic way of life I have been living the last couple of weeks has given me time to ponder and implement what I’ve learned and I think you’ll find it helpful during your new found downtime as well.
One of the first studies I came across spoke of how one of the less considered, but very powerful, aspects of family photography is how it can instill in children stronger confidence in their own worth and abilities. Hanging your family pictures in your home helps your children to see how much they mean to the family and know that each individual is where they belong and are loved. Displaying those happy moments, hard work moments, service moments, ect. remind your child of what they are capable of, or what they are worth. Think of it as a dream board or goal board that actually shows images of your child rather than less significant strangers or images.
The Science: In 1975, the Murfreesboro Study followed a group of students for 5 weeks as they documented their lives with polaroid cameras and created a scrapbook of their images. At the end of the study, it was found that the student’s self esteem behaviors had risen by 37%, a significant increase.
Furthermore, displaying pictures of your family helps your child connect with their family members and better value their ancestors. Having the pictures hung on the walls of your home is so important, but I think it is of equal value to create photobooks or scrapbooks that are easily accessible to your kiddos. We have so many memory books, some of my life growing up, one of our wedding day, books for each child added to our family and I am working on our of our ancestors. It is so important to me to show my kids where they come from and the legacy of ancestors they have supporting them. I truly see them as angels that are watching over and cheering for us and I want my kids to know who those people are and where we come from. I keep our books in the top drawer of our entertainment center in the family room and I’m always surprised at how often the kids look at them.
The Science: Displaying family images “lets children learn who they are and where they fit,” says Judy Weiser, a psychologist and author based in Vancouver. “They learn their genealogy and the the uniqueness of their own family and its story. When a child sees a family portrait with them included in the photograph they say to themselves: ‘These people have me as part of what they are, that’s why I belong here. This is where I come from.”
Printing family pictures also strengthens your family as an individual unit. We all need somewhere to belong. Many families set themselves apart with a motto, family cheer or some kind of family creed. Displaying family pictures is another way to define your family as a unit. I had already seen evidence of this in my own house without realizing it: while rearranging, I had put an old frame in our five year old’s room, the picture was from when he was a baby. Immediately, his younger brother began to take it and put it in his own room, which of course caused huge problems, and every time that I put it back, my three year old would sob saying he wanted a picture. So, after this happening on a daily basis for over a week, I decided to remedy the issue. I got frames for each kiddo and updated each frame with a more recent family picture. Only to hear more complaints from my oldest, who was so mad his picture had changed. I was flummoxed and just exhausted with the whole thing, when finally, I realized that these were more than just pictures for them, they were reminders of our family’s love and our story. So I let each kiddo choose a family picture to place by their bed and they cherish them and reference them all the time.
The Science: Having these images and books that show them who they are is so important and persuasive that they are even used in mental health counseling and therapy. One therapist, David Krauss, who has written books on phototherapy even recommended putting a picture in the children’s bedrooms so it is the last thing they see at night and the first thing they see in the morning, “It says we love you and care about you. You’re important,” said Krauss. He continued, “I think it is really important to show a family as a family unit. It is so helpful for children to see themselves as a valued and important part of that family unit.”
After reading all of this, I thought, “okay, clearly this is important” and being a minimalist I didn’t want to cover all of our walls in pictures so instead I figured I’d make the computer screensaver a slideshow of our pictures. Which hasn’t been completely ineffective, the kids definitely watch them and ask about what the pictures are from. But it just didn’t feel like enough.
Then, I found this quote: “My personal and clinical bias is there is something very powerful in touching your fingers to an actual print,” says Craig Steinberg, a licensed psychologist. “Touching the photograph where a face is smiling or the shoulders, it is the same thing as touching a book when you read it. There’s a lot of stimulation of the brain when you have that sensory experience. That is a bit lost in the move to digital. You are touching a keyboard, mouse or a touchscreen but you are not touching the image.” I knew this to be true and knowing how important sensory experiences are I wanted more for my family.
I have a handwritten journal for each of my kids and I have made some photobooks and have a super long to-do list to make more. Seriously though, the list is seemingly endless and unfortunately up until now, this was an activity that involved me doing all the work and constantly feeling guilty that I haven’t done more.
But not anymore.
I found a way to make creating our yearly photobook a cherished family endeavor. I have started compiling our pictures from the year, picking the most noteworthy ones, arranging them by date and then printing them in a photobook. Here is the kicker. I don’t spend anytime with decorations or captions. For me this was mindblowing, because I’m always about the design and I can spend hours making sure it is “perfect”.
Instead, I print the book with white pages and then we spend time as a family looking through and writing down (by hand) our memories and captions of those pictures. Right now, our kiddos are little so it’s mostly mom and dad writing but we all contribute. When the kids get older I look forward to having everyone’s memories and comments written on the page in our own handwriting. I’ve moved back to the days of simplicity and love, and taken the stress out of the experience. I love that these books contain our story, our memories and our writing.
Being homebound has created more time for us to spend as a family. I love the moments we are spending together and pray that you and your family will carve out time for those worthwhile moments in your family too. If your are looking for something purposeful to do together, get working on a photobook! And don’t forget to capture the memories you’re currently living as well. Every day we have together truly is a blessing.
itching to get started?
Here are some of the resources I have used and reccommend:
- Blurb is a great place to print your photobooks.
- If you are better at posting to your social media, chatbooks is a great way to get books printed of the images you post. You can also upload and create books through them as well.
- For each of my kiddos I have a Promptly Journal and I absolutely love them. If you haven’t seen them before, they are beautiful and a great way to preserve memories and write to each of your kids.
- If you are a client of mine, I offer printing through my personally curated store (found within your gallery). The albums I offer are absolutely beautiful and impeccably made. They would be a perfect and effortless way to get your pictures down on paper. Last year I printed our family pictures in an album and then each family member wrote their favorite thing about each of our family members. I absolutely love it.
- For motherhood and parenting I have loved listening to Ralphie Jacobs from Simply on Purpose, her content always inspires me to learn more and be better for my own babies.
- For more ideas on how to create a family unit and culture that is unique to your home, I highly recommend reading The Entitlement Trap.
