Climb A Tree, Take More Pictures

I wrote once before about my love for my camera phone in my 10 reasons post. While I love my phone I often worry that it takes away from me being “in the moment” with my kids. I hear stories online about moms at the park who are on their phones and not engaging with their kids. I even had the crossing guard make a comment the other day. Something like “I am surprised you are not on your phone” Yeah…. apparently I am on my phone a lot on the walk to school. But if you look at my Instagram its full of my photos of my kids scootering to school, the cute outfits they are wearing and other silly pictures from our mornings. These pics instantly go on my social media pages where my husband and mother-in-law can see the kids from their offices.

On Friday I had a different experience. Lex, my youngest, and I walked to the library to get a book. After we picked a book we hung out in front of the library and I watched Lex play. He climbed on the giant library sign and then on the tree. I took out my phone and took these two pictures.

As I was uploading them an elderly man stopped and said “I wish my mom had a camera on her all the time so I could have photos to look at of my brother and I climbing trees” He talked a little to lex about a huge tree he and his brother used to climb. he looked back to me and said “Isn’t it wonderful that you can capture him in the moment like this.” I told the man that I was posting it so my husband who was at work could see and he said that he had missed so much of his children’s life at work and he would have loved to have had more photos of their day to day lives while he worked. He told me what a blessing my phone was took a long look at Lex up in the tree then walked into the library.

A few minutes later another older woman walked up to me. I had just received a call from a friend and the woman interrupted me… “can I take a photo with your phone for you of you and your son?” (who was still in the tree) I told my friend on the phone that I would have to call him back, handed my phone over and posed by the tree with my son. The woman hung out at chatted with my son for several minutes about climbing trees and what type of tree he was in then went about her day.

I don’t have many photos of me with my kids. Even less that I didn’t take myself. I am so happy that woman offered to take a photo that I wouldn’t have thought to ask someone to take myself.

So I am taking my time today, like these people did to me on Friday, to say….

take your phone out. Take pictures of your kids all day! Take pictures of them getting ready for school, sleeping in, running at the park, helping you grocery shop or climbing a tree!

I won’t judge you 🙂

xoxo

Christina Hulquist