The 1 Reason Mom Should Come Out From Behind the Lens and Be in the Picture

Take a quick peek back at your photos from the past year and tell me what you see. Most likely, there are tons of pictures of your kids on various adventures, probably a good number of them costarring your partner, and less than a handful of you with them. If, like many moms, you are the unofficial family photographer — whether by choice or by default — it's time to relinquish that title in the New Year.

All too often moms find various reasons to snap happy pictures of their kids but fail to put themselves in the pics. See if any of these sound familiar:

  • I'm not the size I want to be.
  • My hair is a mess.
  • I didn't have time to put makeup on this morning.
  • This really isn't the most flattering angle for me.
  • I know I look tired.
  • I haven't showered in days.
  • My clothes are stained with spit-up.
  • My roots need a touch-up.
  • I don't want to interrupt the kids' fun.

But the truth of the matter is, we want — and need — to be in pictures with our kids because these are images our children will look back at in the future, and we want them to remember that Mom was there with them. Two years ago, Allison Tate wrote a moving essay vowing to make a better effort to be in photos with her kids despite not being her ideal weight or wearing her favorite color. A year later, looking back on her year of being in the pictures, she wrote, "When we take pictures with our children, we are asserting ourselves as important and valuable, and our children are watching us."

As we enter 2015 and begin a new year of memories, resolve to make a better effort to record your time with your children. Will the photo be as perfectly styled as it would be if you were behind the lens? Maybe not. Will your kids care? Most likely not. Will you be happy to have captured your reaction to the moment? Most certainly yes. Because 30 years from now, when you're spending the holidays looking over old photos with your kids and their significant others, you won't remember that you were in desperate need of a haircut. You'll remember the laughs, the sillies, the genuine happiness you felt to be in the moment with your kids. We promise.