How many ways we got to tell our children they are important to us?
Every day, any of us displays our love for them in thousand different ways.
Having breakfast together, exchanging a hug before going to school, bringing our little ones to bed with a good night’s story and kiss.
Our children perfectly feel these gestures, they are the real ones during a daily routine that is increasingly becoming virtual and online. But there are thousand of other stimuli our children perceive and let them say: this is my home, this is my family.
A few months ago, I found myself reading an article from the Huffington Post (available at this url), highlighting the importance a family photo hanging on the walls of our home, has in building self-esteem and self-confidence in our children.
This article quoted studies from various psychologists, who highlighted the role photography got in the perception children have of their family and themselves. It’s a fairly simple equation: the family is a unit, and it is extremely important for children to know they are part of it, they are an important part of it.
Family photos on the wall
That said, let’s put pictures on the walls of our homes, in key positions such as in the living room or in our bedrooms, images where children are the center of the scene, making them think “they consider me, we are part of their lives and what they do, this is the place I belong to, it’s home. ”
Do we still think it’s better to preserve such important memories only in digital form, on a phone or tablet?
I’m not a scientist, I’m just doing my job as a photographer at my best, but the answer seems to me so clear and obvious: let’s print pictures of our children, we will only do good to them, we will grow them confident.
Then let’s put family photos we took together in their bedroom. These pictures will be the last thing they will see before they fall asleep and the first ones in the morning, and maybe they will think “my mon and my dad love me so strong.”
Maurizio Mannini
