Today is Mazzy’s first day of kindergarten. In olden days (that’s pre-facebook and instagram), the stress of making sure your child was clean, fed and deposited on the steps of the school on time was more than enough.
But now, our news feeds tell us differently.
Not only should we make our child look presentable, we must be able to capture our perfectly groomed offspring on camera.
Smiling.
While holding a sign.
What? You forgot to make a sign??? HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHAT YEAR IT IS OR WHERE YOUR CHILD IS GOING????!!!!!
We had an hour of school orientation yesterday and Mazzy’s first full day today, so I am still unclear which day I am supposed to document as her official “first day of kindergarten”. So I guess, that’s my first tip. If you have options, go with the first day, so if you screw it up royally, you can try again.
Second tip, buy a portable chalkboard since that appears to be the preferred signage material. Don’t assume they sell those at your local K-Mart, because I can tell you that they do not. I had to buy one of those erasable white boards instead. I hope this small detail doesn’t get me kicked out of the “Good Mom Club”.
Third tip, pick out an outfit ahead of time with no input from your child whatsoever. You are the parent. Your kid should be conditioned to wear whatever you tell them. (Says the mother who let Mazzy pick out her own clothes, including shoes that totally clashed with her shirt.)
Also, make sure your child tries on the outfit prior to the big day. You shouldn’t be ripping off tags the morning of, only to discover her chosen skirt is ten times too big and needs a safety pin in the back. I speak from experience. The experience of a mother who poked a hole in her index finger and still watched her daughter walk out the door wearing a skirt so long it would have been better suited to a married Orthodox Jewish woman.
My final tip is to TAKE A SHIT TON OF PHOTOS. This ensures at least one of them comes out okay. It goes something like this…
“Okay, Mazzy, hold this sign and smile!”
“Smile at camera, please!”
“You know what? This is a terrible background. We should really take this outside.”
“Lower the sign!”
“I said LOWER the sign!”
“That’s higher! LOWER THE SIGN!!!!”
“Okay, now look at me!”
“AT ME!!!”
“Remember to keep the sign down!!!”
“And smile!”
“Keep the sign straight!”
“Okay. Now lower it!”
“And smile!!!!!”
“TOO MUCH SMILING!!!!”
“Just forget about smiling altogether!”
“Perfect.”
Now, you are ready for Instagram.
I mean, school.
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UPDATE: I just dropped Mazzy off. On the way out, I passed three women in yoga pants walking their newborn babies in matching strollers. It felt like the last scene of St. Elmo’s Fire when the gang looks into their old bar, sees the new college kids hanging out at their table and realizes the torch has been passed.
I’ve still got a lump in my throat. For real.
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I’m a “younger” mom I guess, I just turned 30 with a soon to be 5 year old come January, so no school yet for mine…but what I’m getting at is I feel so “old-school”. I kind-of miss the old days where we didn’t feel like we had to do things a certain way – we just did it our way. Granted I haven’t been a Mom for very long, but still…it’s like EVERY back to school photo I’ve seen is exactly the same just insert a different kid behind the chalkboard.
I get that it helps “date” the photo, but how about the letter ‘K’ instead to hold up or have them hold a drawing of what they think their first day of school will look like? Something other than another chalkboard! Maybe even them posing w/ their favorite doll/object what have you. I get what you’re doing here btw, and I love it. Leave it to you to add some realism on how this looks behind the scenes! 😉
K, rant over.
HAHAHAHA… THIS IS TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL!!!
That was kinda my point. Although, I do think it will be nice for you and your kids to look back at all the “first day of school” photos together at some point in the future. And nothing makes it easier to arrange a chronological series of photos than a sign with a date!
This is awesome. The chalk boards are killing me.
I can’t wait to see all these kids when they are seventeen and mom’s making them hold a chalkboard sign with SENIOR! written on it in scripty font.
True…a glorified time-stamp! 🙂 It does beat that orange date that is on all of my old photos; my Mom refused to take that setting off. I now make folders by month and year for my digital files.
Hilarious. As we are getting ready to walk out the door for my oldest daughter’s first day of preschool. I made the sign. Who knows if she’ll hold it. We fought about the outfit and comprised. It’s 8:16 and I’m already stressed.
I spent two hours making signs. For three minutes of pictures. And I had to cut a cord stop out of a jacket because my son can’t tie but his boardshorts had a tie closure. The cord stop works as a tying alternative.
Our first day of school photos were always taken in front of the garage. I don’t know why, but the one I remember most vividly is obviously from the late 80’s in which I have a plastic headband on while wearing a purple Hawaiian shirt tucked into my jeans and I’m pretty sure white socks with black shoes. The kind of socks that folded over with the lace around the bottom of them. Don’t ask….it’s was the 80’s.
Ha! Exactly. The struggle is real.
I take my kids’ pictures in front of the garage. It’s the only spot in the morning that won’t have sun glaring into their eyes. It’s an ugly garage. And only one out of three is llooking at the camera.
I remember wearing paint splattered shorts in one of my school pictures. With a bad perm.
Our first day of school photos were taken in front of the very retro looking ironwork that was on the side of our house. Then we moved when I was a sophomore and the photos ended. That’s kinda sad, looking back, but I think I’ll probably try it. I follow a blogger who has a board that says the date and age, but also what her kid wants to be when he grows up and she does the same thing on the last day. It’s cute to see how it changes.
Never mind holding up a sign…I just need her to look a the camera and we blew through 6 shots while I completely ignored her brother in the stroller. & I missed the shot of her boarding the bus. Oh well there is tomorrow for that I guess =)
Bert’s first day is on Monday! Note to self: buy small chalkboard sign before Monday.
p.s. This post made me laugh out loud.
We do the garage too, because it’s too sunny and squinty at the back door and we don’t often use the front door. We also use the tree for the shade too.
This is so funny because I had the same ‘argument’ with my kids and sign holding and smiling and looking at the camera yesterday morning too!
Though I don’t have a chalk board, I make them write the grade on a piece of paper. Then you can see their handwriting too. 😛 I did make a photo collage yesterday of my daughter from Preschool to 4th grade, all but the first photo with the sign. It looks cute – and overachieving. 😉
And I failed the part where the kids tries on the outfit beforehand, so my son changed shirts because I wouldn’t let him tuck his too-long shirt into his shorts. So I had to iron him another one and I never iron.
I love that idea. My original plan was to do a whole interview with Mazzy for today but she refused to participate. Ah well.
YES, exactly. Isn’t the sign supposed to make the pictures better and not way, way harder? My youngest started kindergarten this year and I still have no idea what to do with my hands. Still waiting for it to feel normal.
Mine are 10. I had about .3 seconds to take the picture before they quit on me. Signs? Ha. They would never hold one now. They are way too cool.
She looks like a little business woman! So cute!
This made me laugh so hard. Anytime I take pictures of my son he WILL NOT look at me. I have to trick him into smiling- and trying to get him to hold a sign? Forget it. She is beautiful and I hope she has a great first day!
I know. I couldn’t talk her out of the skirt. I TRIED!!!!
It was like reliving my, I mean, my son’s first day and taking 30 pictures to get just two that were acceptable!
I am absolutely dying laughing. After getting through 4 kids, half the time I forget to take a picture of their first day!
I’ve never even attempted to have a sign prepared!
I think her outfit is adorable!
I learned the best trick this summer for getting a natural smile from kids: instead of telling them to smile or say, “Cheese!”, tell them to say, “Stinky feet!” It makes them giggle, and a real smile can be captured. And they don’t get as annoyed with the whole picture-taking process 🙂
I’ve always taken a picture at the front stops of our house, but haven’t gotten on the bandwagon of the sign. And- I realized at 4om Monday afternoon (school started on Tuesday) I probably should have gotten a nice new outfit. Headed to target and they had nothing. It took me a good 20 minutes to hunt down something to make it work! And this is my 8year old – can’t imagine how hard it will be next year with my middle one going to K. Who knows if I will even get a picture in:)
I love that Mazzy chose her outfit and “clashing” shoes…my mom ALWAYS let me choose my clothes as soon as I was old enough to dress myself. She never made excuses for me being mismatched and it really fueled my love of color and pattern and I consider myself a pretty creative person. She let me wear a blue tutu (my ballet recital costume) to kindergarten on picture day in the days (mid-70s) before tutus were in every store like they are now. Man, I was SO proud in that thing in the class photo and never cared how people felt about what I wore.
This is awesome! I printed on for my child and I took 30+ pictures for only 1-2 that were decent. It’s a struggle each year, as she get topped out on how many attempts it takes. Look here, smile, hold the sign, put your skirt down, where are your shoes, put down your lunch, smile, where’s the sign, etc. I’m usually sweating by the time we’re done.
I love everything about this.
Ours were too! Always in front of the garage. Nope, I don’t know the dates on the pics but judging by the height and style of cloths I can kind of tell the when they were taken. Also, my nephew started kinder this year and I made my sister take his picture in front of the garage.
Before Instagram and Facebook, we had cameras. We held up fingers to indicate the year of school. You can make a K with two hands. One is easy, two is easy, three is easy. After that, they don’t participate.
We don’t do signs. Not such a big thing this side of the pond (yet). My eldest stands in front of the garage in his uniform (no pre planning outfits, no clashing colours but plenty of too big clothes) and smiles. My daughter is back to preschool tomorrow and will demand pictures because we took her brother this morning and,a little like Mazzy but so much worse, will grimace while resolutely refusing to look at the camera with her eyes. They did both do the interview though. Last year she wanted to be a ballerina doctor which I thought was pretty cool. This year, a Princess. I blame Sofia.
As long as it is age-and-weather appropriate, I do the same thing – kids pick out what to wear. Though I did get annoyed at my older child when on picture day she had picked some scabby-clothes. Only because a couple months prior she had begged for a couple new somewhat expensive outfits! So for that I said choose what you want but then don’t expect me to buy you nice clothes you never wear, especially on a day that warrants it! She actually agreed and changed. Otherwise, your body your choice. Though I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit I may have mentioned to the teacher that when questionable clothing choices were made it was because either the kid dressed herself – or her father had 😉
I wore a Dukes of Hazzard sweatshirt and jeans on my first day of kindergarten. I so wish I had a photo of that, and also that I could find that sweatshirt again. I loved the hell out of that thing. What I’m saying is this: Good for you to let Mazzy pick her outfit for today; she looks adorable. Be thankful it wasn’t a sweatshirt with a puffy picture of the Daisy, Uncle Jesse, and the Duke boys that you were photographing her in.
I personally think that the sign is too big for a little girl. I think that a narrower one would still give the information but we could see the lovely outfit. Maybe someone will make one.
Welcome to the new club. I am glad to see that I am not the only one that has to take 8000 pictures of my child and repeat the same directions over and over until I finally get one that I can share. UGH!
I just LOLed at the photo series. My little guy is only two, so we’ve got some time before I have to worry about this…but I’ve still caught myself looking at friends’ kids’ first day pics and planning for what I’ll do when the time comes. We’re all insane.
hahahaha! Yep that looks about right!
I’ve got a baby but she’s only 1, but yesterday I saw moms putting their wee ones on the bus for the first time – climbing in there with them, giving the driver paperwork, waving until their arms fell off, etc. I got ‘veclemped’ just thinking about what I’ll face four years from now! :o(
Adorable! Her outfit is awesome!
OMG – I can’t stop laughing! It was like I was reading my own words!! Freaking hilarious!!
This morning I had a full-on argument with a FIRST GRADER that no, you will not wear whatever you want today. I let her choose her own everything, but I draw the line at footless sparkly tights with a t-shirt.
I find it weirdly reassuring that it took you ages to get a good picture, because I was always super jealous of how well your kids pose and look at the camera all the time. Now I’ll just be jealous of how Harlow keeps a hat on her head instead of pulling it off and putting it on the dog.
I’ve seen quite a few pics of high school kids holding these signs! The best one was the senior holding an 8×10 of his kinder school portrait…it was sweet.
This post is so uncanny! That’s EXACTLY what happens to us too! (Minus the sign… Thanks for the tip! ) are all mothers with cameras programmed with standard responses?!
hmmm I forced my kids to take first day of school photos every single year until they graduated. My son was two years behind his sister, you should have seen how difficult it was his last two years of school. Lots of eye rolling and resistance. Too bad. His expressions are less than pleasant in them. LOL
The rest of the years, I always knew what year it was based on clothing style and hairdos and heights. You know, spikes and pilot jumpsuits (he had two), and perms and lunch boxes. The year they turned 16 was in front of the vehicles they were allowed to use. And every single photo is in the fog of the September morns near the bus stop or in our driveway.
I put all those first day photos in each of their school memory books every year, just a small, store bought thing I filled out each year so they would remember teachers and what they wanted to be when they grew up. For the record, none of those dreams came true lol.
As a long time mom, I say, Chill. There’s no competition. Enjoy being the mom you are. Love them in your own way! The photos I have (back when you had to take them and just hope they came out good) of frowns and fake smiles and goofy poses are the ones I love best now. Even though I was less than thrilled at the time, they’re real and reflect who they were as they were in the moment.
Mazzy did very well, lol. That’s a lot of photos to hold still for! I’m surprised Harlow didn’t photobomb any of them! (In our Kindergarten one, my 3 yo son snuck into his sister’s picture. No shirt, shorts, and unkempt looking. Love that shot now.) Or is that really the teacher and not Mazzy? Love that she dressed herself. One day she’ll look at that and roll her eyes, too. 😀
I needed this post last week! I got three pics of a blurry mess. It was impossible balancing lunch boxes and water bottles for twin toddlers by myself and taking photos with my cell phone. They kept turning and when I noticed another parent gawking I just threw in the towel on first day of preschool pics.
Hilarious, and the last part? So true. My youngest is in her last year of pre-k, and all of the other moms are there with their toddlers and new babies. On the one hand, I’m all, “hahahahaha suckers! I’m off to kid-free brunch!” On the other hand, it makes me kinda sad.
work|stick with it}!|
[…] If my Instagram account looked like my real life, it would contain about five hundred shots in a row of the moments that did not make the cut. Those ugly moments two seconds before and two seconds after the one photo deemed suitable for public viewing. I believe I showed you a series of them when I attempted to take the perfect picture for Mazzy’s first day of kindergarten. […]
[…] Mazzy’s finished up kindergarten last week and HOLY CRAP I can’t believe it’s over. I was still getting used to the fact that she was in kindergarten to begin with. (Check out her first day pic here.) […]
[…] You know, before she headed into kindergarten. […]
[…] 36 Kids Who Were Less Than Enthused About Their First Day of School After I published the many many pics it took to get Mazzy's perfect "first day of kindergarten" photo, I asked fans of my facebook page to submit their less-than-stellar outtakes as well. Not the one […]
These are adorable pics and the final shot was totally worth the wait!! I wish Mazzy a successful academic career
My oldest babe just started fourth grade today! All Kerri could talk about this summer was starting fourth grade.
My middle babe started second grade today. Her new glasses made her look so grown up in the photos.
Youngest babe is really growing up. She’s Mazzy’s age, and looked some mature on the bus this morning.
The photos you take are very beautiful and meaningful. I really like the picture you took.