Toddlers are pretty unpredictable, which can be hilarious and also wildly frustrating. If you’ve got one of your own you know what I’m talking about. It can make even the most simple task, like getting a cute photo of you kid, basically impossible. Well every kid is different but my husband and I have found some simple and almost fool proof tricks to get the perfect photo of your wild child.

3 Tips for Getting Your Toddler to Pose for a Photo:

1. “Feel the wall”: Getting them to stand in a specific spot is one of the toughest parts. Our most favorite trick is to tell Elouise we are going to feel the wall. In the beginning we’d ask her, “is it bumpy, is it soft, etc” to engage her and interest her in feeling it. She now knows when we say that phrase to put her back against the wall because it’s picture time. This works when she’s in the photo by herself or with one of us.

2. “Sing a song”: Once Elouise is feeling the wall we have to keep her engaged because, let’s be honest, her attention span is pretty short and a lot of the times she will just run toward us or a tree or the street. You know, just depending on how daring she feels. The best trick is to have her sing a song to us or with us. She will usually love to hear us sing her favorite songs or show off her skills with a chorus of Old McDonald.

3. “Look at Daddy”: This is definitely the one that varies the most depending on what mood our little diva is in. We try all sorts of stuff to get her to look at Daddy which essentially is to get her to look at the camera. We all know the best photos are the one where the subject, i.e. your kiddo, is looking at the camera and smiling. Here’s a list of things we shout or do to get her to do those two things “what’s on Daddy’s head?”, “what’s on Mama’s head”, “Look, Mama is going to scare Daddy!”, “Watch Mama dance”, “Does Daddy have a bird on his phone?”, and then of course any silly face or body position that might cause a smile. This is clearly tailored to our kiddo, but you know what things you may need to say to get the attention of your little one.

If all else fails, carry a treat. My child will work the camera for raisins just as much as she will for a sucker. Just sayin. In all fairness I do have to include a disclaimer that we might take 20 photos and get 1 or 2 good ones but that’s better than nothing! Also I will say that at this point Elouise actually enjoys getting her photo taken 89% of the time. In fact, lately she’s been stopping randomly places and “feeling the wall” unprompted. Then when I ask what she’s doing she says “wall”. Little cutie! Hopefully these three easy no brainier tricks help you get a couple of cute photos of your kiddo!