Would You?
I was scoping out the location where I'll be holding a photo shoot in a few weeks and came across what I assume was a mom and her 8 or 9-year old son. She was taking photos of him and asking him to smile and pose and all of those things that you imagine happen when a mother takes photos of her son. As I was walking by, he decided it was time to turn the tables on her.
"Mom, can I take a picture of you?" he asked.
"No," she replied.
"Buy why not?" he said in that ultra-complainy voice so many kids do so well.
"You're not touching my camera," she told him. "It was too expensive."
I'm not judging her ... SERIOUSLY. I'm not. I totally and completely understand being afraid of letting anyone touch something that costs as much as a good camera does.
But.
BUT.
I totally let Alexis touch my stuff. It makes me super nervous, but I let her. With supervision.
How else will she learn to respect really expensive stuff?
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Reader Comments (14)
I like this.
YES.. totally would and totally DO.
Shh...I let both of my kids use the camera. I agree, how else would they learn? And with supervision, for sure. (And it guarantees mom gets her picture taken, too.)
The Howler does anyway. I bow to the inevitable, supervise while/when I can, and hope for the best. I do miss the days of her self portraits being mostly nostril, though.
Both my girls are allowed to . . . with lots of ground rules . . . the strap has to be around their neck, there is only walking and not running or jumping or flailing, they freeze when I say freeze, etc. Makes me sound a little over the top, but I can now trust at least one of them to carry a $1000 piece of equipment in ALMOST any situation.
I have been known to draw the line at mountain top requests for it, though. After all, there have to be some boundaries (and 100ft rocky cliffs are mine).
No kids yet. But I recently started letting my 5 year old niece take photos with my camera. She has to start and learn somewhere. I am the natural choice, since I'm the family member always carrying a camera. She does always have the strap around her neck, and for now I have her stay in one spot when snapping photos. As we both get more comfortable, I will give her a bit more freedom at a time. As with my music instruments, I teach her a healthy respect for what is valuable. So yes!
I completely get it. And I completely agree with you. But I insist the camera strap be around a neck, because even the most careful kid can have an accident. I even let Micah, but come completely unglued when he picks it up without permission.
I let the boys. Supervised and such. It makes my heart flop but I do it.
Not to mention that you think she is just as valuable as any expensive thing and that maybe she'll turn this interest into one of the blesses of her life. My daughter did exactly that with her exposure to photography.
I let my sons touch the camera too! Just like you said--how will they learn to respect expensive stuff--and also--it teaches them something new and artistic and fun! Kids want to be little adults and want to do what their parents do--so let them :) WITH supervision, of course ;) He doesn't touch the 5D when I'm not around! :)
My oldest {5}, yes. The little one? Not quite yet! And? I let some of my little clients take a shot or too to break the ice. They love catching a shot of mom or dad.
I have said yes and no at times. If they are serious about it I am fine and usually let them. If they are just bored and want to goof around I usually say no. Three out of my four kids are really rough on things. They are not gentle people, they are learning lessons the hard way with their own iPods and such (they save their money and buy them). I'm not just handing mine over. I do love my kids more than my camera, but I'm realistic with life as well!
I'm dealing with this right now. It took me some time and I have come up with a compromise.
I have an older DSLR that will now be hers. She will only be able to use it when she is with me and we can learn together.
Looking forward to it.
I wouldn't let my daughter touch my Kindle until I got a case for it.
As for something like a really nice / expensive camera that you can't really get a protective case for... probably not. BUT... my daughter is 4. By 8 or 9 I imagine I probably would with supervision. Like you said, how else will they learn?