What to do when your toddler is fussy | Sunset Family Session | Downtown Buckley, WA | Brooke Holliday Photography
Let’s face it. it’s probably going to happen at some point..
You show up to the session and your toddler is not in the highest of spirits. Maybe they are tired or they slept on the car ride over, despite our best attempt to keep them up, and they were woken up on the wrong side of the carseat. You panic a little inside and start to dread this experience. You are embarrassed by your toddlers behavior and can’t believe this happening!
How to handle a fussy toddler at a photo session.
STOP!
Let me be the first to say that this is ok and you don’t need to stress. First of all I have kids. I have a toddler, that has at a session, done all of the things that have made me feel embarrassed and felt bad for the photographer. I know that we all want our kids to cooperate but it’s not always the case. Not to fear because there are some tricks that can be pulled out of the sleeve that will get us rolling through the session and may help bring your toddler around. I don’t guarantee it because there are times when things just don’t align but we will always give it our best shot.
Your toddler may start out at a session in a kind of surprise, because this may be their first photo session, and they don’t know who this stranger is or what is happening. They may be a little on the cooperative side of things, but about mid way through they start to not want to be held or sit in one spot for cuddly photos. At this point I just kinda let them do their thing. If they want to walk around and explore they can. I might pull mom and dad away and take some photos of just them or maybe a few of just a sibling that is in better spirits. 9 times out of 10 they will come see what we are doing because we are not focused on them anymore.
Taking the spot light off of them and letting them just have a little autonomy and freedom can turn a fussy child into a content child. These are good moments to capture them in their natural state and get some really nice candid shots of them exploring the location. When children feel they are in control of their bodies often times this will relax them and we might even get a genuine smile or two.
Other attempts to turn them around are some fun things like:
Throwing them in the air
Having mom and dad swing them in the air
Doing a piggy back ride
Sitting them on top of dad’s shoulders
These are simple activities that can get them to laugh or giggle and out of their mood.
And what if none of our attempts or tricks work? Well then we call it a day. I will never ever keep a session going when your child is clearly not having a good time. Your session is supposed to be fun and one of my goals is that everyone have a good time. If we absolutely can’t get your child to have some fun then we will just call it and reschedule for another time. I don’t ever want a child to cry and get upset at a session because we tried to push it.