There are approximately 47,000 photos of your child (or grandchild) eating toast on your phone, but somehow you don’t have a decent picture of the day they learned to ride a bike.
Sound familiar?
Childhood is full of milestones. Some arrive with plenty of warning, a new school uniform hanging on the wardrobe door or a birthday circled on the calendar. Others happen on a completely ordinary Tuesday afternoon when nobody is prepared and your phone is on 3% battery.
And while you absolutely do not need to photograph every second of your child’s life, there are certain moments that are worth stopping for.
Not because they need to go on Instagram. Not because you need photographic evidence that you’re smashing parenthood. Just because one day, you’ll be very glad you did.
This is the obvious one, but it’s obvious for a reason.
That first photo in an oversized school uniform, with a book bag that practically reaches their knees, is one you’ll appreciate more with every passing year.
Take the traditional front-door photo, obviously. But don’t forget the little details too:
And it doesn’t just have to be the first day.
As we mentioned in our guide to family traditions worth starting, there’s something lovely about photographing the last day too.
Take the same doorstep photo on the final day of the school year and put it next to the first. Same child, same uniform, very different result. The jumper’s a little shorter, the shoes have seen things and the nervous smile has usually been replaced by someone who can’t quite believe they now have six weeks without maths.
Keep doing it each year and you’ve got a brilliant little record of them growing up, one school year at a time.
There is usually a very specific moment when you realise you’re no longer holding onto the back of the bike.
They’re doing it.
You’re running behind them shouting encouragement.
They’re pedalling away.
And then you remember you’re 15 years older than the last time you attempted a sprint.
Learning to ride a two-wheeled bike is one of those brilliantly visual childhood milestones. NHS child development guidance includes learning to ride a bicycle among the physical skills children may develop during the early years, although every child develops at their own pace.
You don’t need a perfectly posed photo here. In fact, don’t interrupt them to get one. A slightly blurry picture of that first independent ride will probably tell the story much better.
Bonus points if the helmet is wonky.
Baby teeth are there for years, then suddenly the Tooth Fairy seems to be running a subscription service.
That gummy little gap is worth photographing precisely because it doesn’t last.
Get the enormous grin. Get the tiny tooth being proudly displayed in the palm of their hand. Get the handwritten note to the Tooth Fairy requesting £20 because apparently inflation has reached the pillow economy too.
The NHS recommends caring for children’s teeth from the moment their first teeth appear, with adult help with brushing generally continuing until at least age seven.
Eventually those gaps fill with adult teeth and the whole shape of their face starts to change. You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ve forgotten that slightly wonky, wonderfully gappy smile.
Yes, this is technically part of learning to ride a bike. It deserves its own mention anyway.
Removing stabilisers is one of those tiny transitions that feels enormous to a child.
Yesterday they needed four wheels. Today they need two.
Photograph the proud face afterwards, scraped knees and all. The achievement is the important bit, not whether you’ve accidentally included your neighbour’s wheelie bin in the background.
Maybe it’s their first width without holding onto anything. Maybe it’s finally putting their face underwater. Maybe it’s jumping into the pool without immediately changing their mind halfway through.
Swimming milestones tend to happen gradually, which makes them easy to overlook.
Obviously, photos around water need to come second to actually supervising children. But if another adult is there and it’s safe to grab a picture afterwards, do.
Wet hair, goggles still on, towel wrapped around them and that unmistakable look of “DID YOU SEE THAT?”
That’s the photo.
There will come a point when those enthusiastic scribbles suddenly become letters.
Possibly backwards. Possibly enormous. Possibly occupying an entire sheet of paper despite their name only containing four of them.
Keep it.
Better still, photograph them holding it.
Development isn’t identical for every child and milestones shouldn’t be treated as deadlines. NHS guidance stresses that children learn skills in their own time and that developmental milestones are useful as a guide rather than something children should all achieve at exactly the same age.
That first recognisable name is a lovely marker of how far they’ve come. A few years later they’ll be writing entire stories, school projects and increasingly ambitious birthday lists.
First football training. First ballet lesson. First gymnastics class. First time holding a violin. First Cubs or Brownies meeting.
You have absolutely no idea at this point whether this is going to become their great passion or something they refuse to attend again after three Wednesdays.
Photograph it anyway.
If they stick with it, you’ll have the brilliant “look where you started” photo.
If they don’t, you’ll have proof of the six-week period when you spent £87 on equipment for an activity they now claim they have always hated.
Both have value.
School play. Dance show. Music concert. Sports match. Assembly where they have been entrusted with the extremely important responsibility of saying one line about a sheep.
These moments matter because they’re often about more than the performance itself.
It’s the costume you were informed about at 8pm the night before. The practising in the kitchen. The nerves. The little face scanning the room until they find you.
Take a photo before or afterwards if photography during the event isn’t allowed.
You don’t necessarily need a perfect action shot. Sometimes the best photo is the proud, slightly relieved face afterwards.
OK, not technically a milestone, but hear us out.
That rabbit with one ear. The teddy that has been washed so many times it’s approximately 40% original teddy. The toy dinosaur that had to come to Tesco, Grandma’s house and, for reasons nobody fully understood, the bathroom.
Photograph them with it.
Favourite toys can be such a huge part of childhood and then quietly disappear from everyday life without anyone noticing. One day Teddy is absolutely essential for sleep. Six months later he’s sitting untouched on a shelf.
You probably won’t know which cuddle is the last cuddle.
That’s exactly why it’s worth getting the photo before then.
Some of the best milestones aren’t really milestones at all.
They’re endings you don’t recognise until they’ve already happened.
The last time they need the little step to reach the sink.
The last time they fit into their favourite dressing gown.
The last bedtime with a particular teddy.
The last time they sit in the child seat of the supermarket trolley.
The last time they fall asleep on you.
The problem is that nobody announces these moments.
There isn’t a notification saying, “Just so you know, this is the final time they’re going to pronounce spaghetti like that.”
So photograph the ordinary stuff occasionally too.
Choose one photo you repeat every year.
It could be:
Individually, each photo is lovely. Together, they become something else entirely.
You’ll see changing hairstyles, missing teeth, growth spurts and questionable clothing choices. You’ll also capture the things you don’t notice changing when you see someone every day.
Just be prepared for the moment the smallest child suddenly becomes taller than you. Nobody enjoys that development.
There’s one thing worth remembering through all of this: documenting childhood doesn’t have to mean constantly viewing it through your phone.
Take the photo, then put the phone away.
Thirty seconds is enough.
It doesn’t need perfect lighting. Everyone doesn’t need to look at the camera. Nobody needs matching clothes and your house definitely doesn’t need to be tidy.
In fact, some of the details that annoy you now might be the things you love seeing later.
The pile of tiny shoes by the door. The battered scooter on the driveway. The school jumper with breakfast on it. Your kitchen before you redecorated it. The dog photobombing yet another supposedly lovely family picture.
Personal memories are about more than remembering that something happened. Autobiographical memory can contain details about particular events, places and people, as well as the wider knowledge we associate with those experiences.
A photograph gives you something tangible to return to when those little details have become harder to recall.
And one final thing. Taking a photograph doesn’t mean you have to share it.
The American Psychological Association has highlighted growing concerns around “sharenting”, particularly children’s privacy, autonomy and the long-term digital footprint created when their photos and personal information are routinely posted online.
Some memories can simply belong to your family.
Take the picture. Keep it. Print the really special ones.
Because the photo that feels completely ordinary today might be the one that stops you in your tracks ten years from now.
And if you’ve caught one of those moments, don’t leave it buried between 14 screenshots, a picture of the electricity meter and something you photographed in Tesco because you wanted to remember the price.
Turn it into a metal print and put it somewhere you can actually see it.
Childhood moves quickly enough. Your favourite bits deserve to stick around.
