Why I don't take pictures of my kids

Everywhere you go you see it: parents snapping endless pictures of posing, fake-smiling children.

"Stand by your sister!"
"Put your hands down!"
"Stop crying!"
"Can we get this over with?!"
"Just one more!"
"Look over here!"

And on it goes.

Every tourist attraction, childhood vacation, day trip, field trip, or even quick little excursion to a park is filled with never ending snapshots of unruly children.  And now with the omnipresence of smartphones there is always a camera to be had.

I probably used to be that mom.  Always dreaming of snapping the perfect photo -- one that would be worthy of a beautiful frame and hanging on the wall in the perfect place forever.  One that visitors would admire and insist that a professional had caught at precisely the right moment.

But one day something struck me.  I realized that I was viewing my children's happiest days through the viewfinder of a camera.  Always seeing their laughter and antics through a tiny square instead of in the panoramic view of reality.  Not only was I not getting any pictures worth framing, I was also not remembering any of our most memorable times together.

I got rid of the camera.  I stopped asking them to pose on the playground, in front of the sign marking our trips, with the stranger who was there to pose with tourists, with the pretty flowers they didn't care about.  Those weren't the things we needed to remember.  We needed to remember how we smiled, how the flowers smelled, the way the wind felt as we ran through the park, the sounds echoing through the historic landmarks we explored together.

I don't need drives filled with unmarked photos.  I don't even need albums full of carefully scrapbooked pictures.  I will take the actual memories in my head over those things any day.