I've stood on my soap box time and time again telling and explaining how family photos are important. You are doing your present day family history. Don't you want your grandkids to be able to look back and see what life was like? To be able to have that legacy to pass on to them? But did you know that as much as your future children and generations after will love these images, the most beneficial recipients of hanging your photos are your children. 

     Think about it, we spend hours decorating and filling our homes with the things that are most precious to us. We have Pinterest boards full of inspiration. There are countless shows on HGTV all about interior design. Our homes are a direct representation of ourselves, our style and our passions. In 1975 a study was done on a group of fourth graders in Tennessee. Four five weeks they were given polaroid cameras and instructed to take pictures of themselves. At the end of each week they would make a scrapbook page. This continued every week for the duration of the five weeks. Testing was done by the teachers and the results showed a significant increase in the average self esteem of 37% of students. So how does this translate to family photography? By seeing themselves as a valued and important part of the family children gain the confidence needed for a good self esteem. 

     When you think about it from the view point of a child, it makes perfect sense; Homes are our safe place. We fill our home with what we love and when they see themselves on the wall, they know they are loved. Loved children are happy children. I've seen the impact of hanging family pictures in my own home with Jones. He gets excited whenever I switch out old ones for updated photos of him. (Which makes taking his yearly birthday photos easier and easier.) I like to keep his photos in the frame and just stick the new one up front. I love being able to flip through his old photos with him and tell him stories from when he was littler. But it starts out having an impact on him even earlier. Babies love looking at my wall. It's filled with so many happy faces. Seeing baby Jones stare at the portraits and watching Fields follow in his footsteps gives me so much motivation to keep it up. I want them to know how loved and wanted they are. They are my most precious works of art that I proudly hang on my walls. I want them to know that they can do whatever they want and that I will always be there to back them. I want my kids to have the confidence to achieve whatever they desire, and I'm doing my best to give them the footing to start.