Child ruins every picture!

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

But it IS all about grandma?

For ONE picture? Hardly all about her. She wanted one picture.

Instead the girl couldn't behave for one picture.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yep, if she's the one paying for the photos and wants a few without the kid being a snot.

For all we know grandma might be paying for the whole trip. I think we can assume the 12 year old didn't pay for it.

 

[luvsJack]

Like I said, apparently pictures are a big deal to some. I just can't help but feel that grandma is taking it too far if she tells the child she "ruined" all the pictures. We don't even know what the kid was doing do we? Did she come back and say? Do we know how many pictures were made? Do we know if the kid was saying "I don't want to be in the picture" and grandma was saying "come on you just have to do one" and that was 85 pictures ago?

I am all for well behaved kids. Got three myself and three well behaved grands. I just don't think every thing has to be made into a struggle.

 

[okeydokey]

I really hope that it if I asked my kids to stand still for a few moments in order to do something nice for their Grandma, they would do it. She is quite good to them, it is the least they could do. I would have a real problem if they were too selfish to just do what they were told for a minute. Good night!

 

[gwynne]

Like I said, apparently pictures are a big deal to some. I just can't help but feel that grandma is taking it too far if she tells the child she "ruined" all the pictures. We don't even know what the kid was doing do we? Did she come back and say? Do we know how many pictures were made? Do we know if the kid was saying "I don't want to be in the picture" and grandma was saying "come on you just have to do one" and that was 85 pictures ago?

I am all for well behaved kids. Got three myself and three well behaved grands. I just don't think every thing has to be made into a struggle.

I suppose one can imagine all sorts of possibilities. I'm not big on extremes.

I don't think making a brief reasonable request of a child should be a struggle. Children need to learn that sometimes you give, it's not always take, take, take. This is an important life lesson.

 

[anneboleyn]

Like I said upthread, in my corner of the world, that's exactly what it is. "Mugging for the camera" has always meant trying to look 'gangsta.' This is the first time I've heard it used to describe silly kid faces. In fact, to find those pics I posted, I google image searched 'mugging face.' All the results are some level of surly, not a goofy pic in the bunch.

I am from PA and that is exactly what my friends and I call it as well. I didn't realize it was called anything other than "mean mugging" lol. It is even a captain for one of my friends in our yearbook.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I am just not going to 'pile-on' the OP here.
I have to admit that the title to her thread sounds a bit angry and extreme.
But, read the thread...

...... Nothing anyone said would stop her. Parents of 12 year old daughters - what do you think? I didn't make a big issue of this at the time, but we just got the pictures back and it's really irritating to realize we don't have one decent picture.

The OP says, '... ONE decent picture'

This is not a young child who was being asked to 'perform' above their abilities.
This was not a young child who was simply having a melt-down.
This was a 12-13 year old.
It seems that it was mentioned to her by more than one person that she should correct her behavior.
I think that somebody just used the word 'snot'.... while I won't go that far, I will definitely admit that this is along the lines of what my thoughts are.

Believe me.
I KNOW that there are grand-parents, inlaws, etc... who are demanding and over-the-top all about me.
Many of you guys are aware of that.
I am NOT so sure that this fits the situation here, AT ALL.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Like I said, apparently pictures are a big deal to some. I just can't help but feel that grandma is taking it too far if she tells the child she "ruined" all the pictures.

Somebody fill me in here... has the OP suggested that she go to the kid and confront her and tell her she 'ruined' all the pictures?

I am not seeing any such post...

And, while it is nice to have well behaved offspring, I have been told many times 'what a fine young man' my son is. Nobody, and no child, is perfect... When I heard these comments I just smiled nicely and tried not to go...

 

[lizabu]

Somebody fill me in here... has the OP suggested that she go to the kid and confront her and tell her she 'ruined' all the pictures?

I am not seeing any such post...

And, while it is nice to have well behaved offspring, I have been told many times 'what a fine young man' my son is. Nobody, and no child, is perfect... When I heard these comments I just smiled nicely and tried not to go...

I'm with you. We don't know that OP told the child she ruined the pictures. She's disappointed she didn't get one decent pic from the entire trip and is venting to us.

 

[larissawbb]

After 10 pages, I really want to see these pictures.

 

[Aliceacc]

From the OP, bold is mine:

We recently took a big family vacation to the World. We had the Memory Maker package and so took a number of group photos. Our 12 year old grandaughter ruined every single one by mugging for the camera. Nothing anyone said would stop her. Parents of 12 year old daughters - what do you think? I didn't make a big issue of this at the time, but we just got the pictures back and it's really irritating to realize we don't have one decent picture.

 

[tzolkin]

Oh, and I don't think its really fair to call the kid a brat. We don't know how it all really went. But its not about stifling anything. I think that for some of us it just really is not a big deal.

I understand that for many (most?) people getting "perfect" pictures isn't a big deal. I have one daughter who has offered poses that capture her personality since she was a toddler. (She was either bubbling over with exuberance or grumpy.) I remember taking the kids for studio pictures and the ones I purchased were the ones that the photographer assumed we wanted to skip over, but to me they were the most fitting and still make me smile.

However, the "big deal" to me in this situation is that the child was asked repeatedly to not do something and was purposely being defiant even when she saw that it was upsetting her parents and grandparents. I may not care about the pictures, but I wouldn't tolerate that behavior. The daughter I mentioned above is now 12. In most pictures her personality and excitement for life are expressed through exaggerated poses and facial expressions and I love it. But if her grandparents ask her to take a more reserved shot, she will gladly comply.

 

[Mirielle]

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!!!

 

[King Schultz]

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!!!

This a great post!!!

 

[Magpie]

And what's wrong with that? Oh, I get it, mustn't stifle little bratface's creativity or hurt her self-esteem.



Yep, if she's the one paying for the photos and wants a few without the kid being a snot.

Well, hey... if you've got a defiant, spoiled, inconsiderate, picture-ruining little bratface for a granddaughter, why even bother having her in any of the pictures?

I mean, it's not like you actually like the kid or anything.

 

[NHdisneylover]

She was being repeatedly reprimanded and continued doing something just to annoy and upset her parents and grandparents. That just doesn't seem like fun for either side to me.

If my DS was doing something extremely annoying to his sisters and would not let up, I wouldn't shrug it off as "he's just having fun at Disney." His "fun" shouldn't be at the expense of everyone else's enjoyment.

Why do you assume she was doing it just to annoy her family?

 

[tzolkin]

Why do you assume she was doing it just to annoy her family?

I will fully acknowledge that's just an assumption on my part and could be wrong. But, to me, that seems to be the most likely reason. According to the OP, "nothing anyone said would stop her". So she knew it was upsetting them because she was directly asked to stop by multiple people. She's old enough to understand that and choose to comply. What would be a more logical reason for why she continued to do it (for every single photo for the entire trip) if she wasn't intentionally trying to annoy them?

 

[NHdisneylover]

I will fully acknowledge that's just an assumption on my part and could be wrong. But, to me, that seems to be the most likely reason. According to the OP, "nothing anyone said would stop her". So she knew it was upsetting them because she was directly asked to stop by multiple people. She's old enough to understand that and choose to comply. What would be a more logical reason for why she continued to do it (for every single photo for the entire trip) if she wasn't intentionally trying to annoy them?

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

 

[FoxC63]

We recently took a big family vacation to the World. We had the Memory Maker package and so took a number of group photos. Our 12 year old grandaughter ruined every single one by mugging for the camera. Nothing anyone said would stop her. Parents of 12 year old daughters - what do you think? I didn't make a big issue of this at the time, but we just got the pictures back and it's really irritating to realize we don't have one decent picture.

Upload a photo! My DS always had this crazy grin thing going on, after picking the photos I wanted I "corrected" his face via power point. Yes it's A LOT of work, but it look amazing when completed. Also send the kid an actual photo along with a note expressing how you feel.

 

[FoxC63]

I would think, that, after you realized what was going on, someone would have had a little chat along these lines;

"Katie, we want a nice family picture to frame. We would love for you to be in it. But that's not going to happen if you keep making those faces. So we're going to take 3 of each pictures: one with you OUT of it, one with a nice face, and one with any face you want. You can keep the funny one; we'll see which of the other 2 we prefer."

Now, of course, it's too late.

Boom!!!! You said it! and I love it - taken em out!!!