Child ruins every picture!

[gwynne]

I go back to my years of teaching junior high and working with girl scouts in that age range and think about how many are truly very uncomfortable with their physical appearance and do this type of thing to not have to be forced into having a photo taken which should look "good" and does not, in their eyes.
It could be that the girl is just a brat--but this is also a very likely reason IMO

Could be a lot of reasons. I'm not in the call the kid a brat crowd. I think lots of kids just haven't really thought about the many ways they can be kind. I believe it's a big mistake to talk to them like they are ungrateful, or bad.

A gentle BRIEF talk with them about them doing something that is a kindness for grandma is a good thing. It's another way to say I love you, and thank you.
I would have this quick talk before picture taking, and then limit the length of the picture shoot. And I agree with letting them know ahead of time we'll do a couple of crazy photos (so have your goofy face ready!) and then one for grandma.

 

[PollyannaMom]

It's hard for us all to judge without being there. Maybe the kid was uncomfortable, maybe she was ungrateful, maybe it was both. But I think the OP is probably feeling like she wasted a lot of money. I consider Memory Maker expensive (enough that I don't buy it). She might not have either if she knew her granddaughter would be so uncomfortable/uncooperative/?? that she wouldn't get any pictures she actually liked.

 

[Disney Doll]

OP, I imagine you'll get opportunity to turn the table in a few years. If your granddaughter has a wedding and the family is posing for formal pics together...MUG FOR THE CAMERA!!!

That's right!! You know what they say about payback.

 

[kimblebee]

That's right!! You know what they say about payback.

That it's really immature?

 

[NotUrsula]

Simple, if her face "ruins" the photos, take a few in to have her Photoshopped out of them, or have her face from her school photo Photoshopped into them. You'll have photos you are happy with, and she gets her just desserts. When you all look at the photo a few years from now and she asks where she was, remind her that she was sick that day, which is much more productive than sighing over the "ruined" photo every time it comes out, and saying things like "this would have been such a lovely photo if X hadn't made that face." We have all at one time or another been idiots as teens; 10-to-1 she won't think it's much of a big deal that you edited her out. Just a photo after all -- it's not like you disowned her. (I don't like being photographed, and I'm always very relieved to find I've been edited out.)

FWIW, "mugging for the camera" where I grew up meant obnoxious goofing around to frustrate the photographer, not trying to look like a gangster. Some examples would be crossing your eyes, making a deliberate underbite, doing the upside-down-fists eyeglass thing, scratching your armpit, picking your nose, sticking out your tongue, or making rabbit ears behind someone's head.

 

[Hikergirl]

For crying out loud. The girl was told to stop, she didn't. She should have because she was told to, end of story.

 

[usd2bmd]

I have a brother in- law who doesn't like having his picture taken so as often as possible when he is having his picture taken, he flips the middle finger. It's never obvious but it's there. I can understand being bothered that pictures are not what you envisioned.

 

[roseaster]

For crying out loud. The girl was told to stop, she didn't. She should have because she was told to, end of story.

Thank you! Goodness the girl is 12 not 2. She was asked to stop multiple times and she did not. It doesn't matter why she was doing it, she was told to stop.

Her grandmother spent $169 on a Memory Maker so that she could get at least 1 nice picture of the entire family and didn't get even that because of this child. If the OP had spent $169 for a sitting at a photographer and this child had made stupid faces in all of the pictures in spite of being told to stop I am sure no one on here would be making excuses for her behavior.

I would absolutely tell her she ruined all the pictures. She is 12, not 2 and she did it willfully.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Some feel very uncomfortable having their photo taken. What if, she attempted "nice", but was still criticized?

Good grief, it's only a picture. Pretty small thing in the grand scheme of life. IMO

 

[Kellykins1218]

Photoshop her out of all of them

 

[roseaster]

Some feel very uncomfortable having their photo taken. What if, she attempted "nice", but was still criticized?

Good grief, it's only a picture. Pretty small thing in the grand scheme of life. IMO

Then she could have asked to be left out of the picture. There was absolutely no reason to act like a clown and ruin every picture. Again, she is 12. She was asked to stop. At 12 she knows better. She didn't attempt nice. She deliberately made stupid faces in all the pictures.

I have had three 12 year olds at this point. I know they like duck lips, and sticking out tongues, and crossed eyes, and peace signs, but when asked to stand and smile nicely they were all capable of doing it.

I hate having my picture taken. I get it, but I would never purposely ruin someone's picture by making a stupid face. I would either suck it up and plaster a grin on my face or ask to be left out. Again, she is 12, not 2. A 12 year old knows better, especially after being repeatedly asked to stop.

It may not be important to you, but it was, obviously, important to the OP. She spent quite a bit of money for these pictures, she wanted 1 without this child making a stupid face or gesture, it's really not much to ask. Who knows, this may be the only or last big family trip. Grandma wanted one nice picture of her grandkids to frame. It wasn't a big request to smile nicely for one picture out of 100s.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

To me, "mugging for the camera" means that the person is purposefully being silly or trying to upstage everyone else. Be the center of attention, or a show-off. For me, a little of that goes a long way. I can understand the OP saying the girl "ruined" the pictures if she's trying to be the main attraction in each picture - like someone else said, "it's all about ME!"

My nephew is mildly autistic and we were trying to do family pictures a couple of Christmases ago. He made it clear he did not care to have his picture made with the rest of us (as a gift to my parents, his grandparents), so every single picture he is in, he is stoic and frowning. We're a pretty jovial group and we put up with some of it, and tried to get him laughing with some joking and every time he started to feel himself smile, he'd push out of the group and go off by himself until he could regain his frown. He was 16 and perfectly capable of making one nice picture for Grandma, but refused. I understand the OP's dismay at not having one nice picture out of all of the ones taken. After we booked a photographer to make some nice family pictures, we got zero with everyone smiling and it would have been nice to have just a few.

 

[cleverclovers]

Whenever she's around, put the pictures out, but put a small piece of paper over her face. If she asks why, remind her that she was asked to NOT make faces and you don't like to see it. Therefore, the only way you can enjoy the pics is to block her face. OR find someone who can photoshop a nice pic of her face and substitute it for the "brat" face in each picture.

 

[jormom1030]

What I don't get is when we purchased Memory Maker our pictures did not show up for a while. How did anyone know what she was doing in the pictures at the time they were taken so that she could be asked multiple times to stop it. Was someone from the family not in the picture?

 

[pat fan]

What I don't get is when we purchased Memory Maker our pictures did not show up for a while. How did anyone know what she was doing in the pictures at the time they were taken so that she could be asked multiple times to stop it. Was someone from the family not in the picture?

I assume as there were multiple family members in the pic, someone saw her and said "Susie's making a face" and then it proceeded from there.

 

[jormom1030]

I assume as there were multiple family members in the pic, someone saw her and said "Susie's making a face" and then it proceeded from there.

But how were they looking at the camera and looking at her at the same time?

 

[jevs]

But how were they looking at the camera and looking at her at the same time?

Parents have eyes in the back of their head...

 

[pat fan]

But how were they looking at the camera and looking at her at the same time?

Have you ever taken a family photo? People look at each other, especially siblings/cousins, just prior to the picture being taken. Even adults do. Someone noticed, commented, she was asked to stop, she didn't. Probably the next time they asked her to smile nicely this time, and she didn't/wouldn't. And on it went.

Also, there are places in WDW you can go and see the pics on your account. We did that the second day we were there, just to be sure the Magic Band scan was working for photo's. It was still fairly new and they had had some glitches, so we wanted to make sure we were getting the pics that were being taken. They may have done that and noticed it then.

 

[WuvEeyore]

When I was 12, if my parents or grandparents asked me to stop, I stopped. Didn't have to be asked more than once. It shows a lack of respect that she kept doing it over and over again after being asked to stop.

 

[IDoDis]

Where I've lived (midwest and southwest) your "mug" is your face as in, "Get your mug out of my diary!" Ever since I was a teenager (long, long ago), mugging for the camera meant that the person mugging was trying to take the spotlight in the photo be it with the group or behind the the group (which is now referred to as photobombing).

This thread reminds me of this video of two grown men trying to pose for a photo for their mom to give her for Mother's Day, and one of the brothers keeps messing up each photo. It's made the rounds on the internet over the years with over 13 million views, so if you've never seen it and you had a sibling that you didn't get along with, you will love this!