We mums can’t get enough of snapping photos of our children, and those huge photos albums lying all over the house are testament to that. But because we’re the ones taking the pictures, we’re not in them.
So one woman has sent out a powerful message explaining why there should be more photos of mums – and we have to say it has really moved us.
Kaylin Marie Schimpf, an inspirational speaker, wants the people in our lives to capture us throughout all those precious moments of motherhood. She’s not talking selfies, or stiff posed shots, but candid, natural photos that show us as we really are.
“Dear men.... take the photo...” she wrote.
“It doesn't matter what she looks like, or if she tells you no, take the photo. You may not think about it often, or at all honestly. But how many photos does she capture of you, of your family and of your life you've built. But when she is gone, those photos won't show your children the women who was behind the camera.
“Take the photo. Messy hair, no makeup or a dirty old t-shirt won't matter to your children when she is gone someday. What will matter is that you loved what you saw enough to take a photo, to document it, to preserve that moment in time of the woman you love. No woman wants to look back at a lifetime of selfies. Do what she does for you every day, and snap a few moments in time.
“Be proud. Take photos of her. Before kids and after.
“Just take the photo...”
Kaylin says she was compelled to write the emotional message because there are few photo of her late father, who died last year.
“Photos are all we have eventually,” she told The Huffington Post. “Memories are great, but I look back and I have nothing of my dad.”
We have to admit, Kaylin's message has really made us think twice about all the times we beg our partners not to take photos of us because our hair is messy, or we’re makeup-free. She's inspiring us to allow them to capture the ‘real’ us, cuddling our kids in our PJs or feeding a fractious baby. Because that’s real life.
