Family Portraits Boost Children's Self Esteem

 

Experts in child psychology have long identified that family portraits displayed prominently in the home sends the message that our family and those in it are important to one another. Children can see themselves as valued members of their family, this ushers their sense of belonging and gives them a stronger sense of their own worth and abilities. 

David Krauss, a licensed psychologist from Cleveland, Ohio says, "I think it is really important to show a family as a family unit. It is helpful for children to see themselves as a valued and important part of that family unit. A photographer's job is to create and make the image look like a safe holding space for kids where they are safe and protected. Kids get it on a really simple level."

Which has the greatest positive impact for your children, images in a digital form, where your child has to turn on a device, click around a computer, or family photographs displayed on a wall in the home? " My bias is very simple. I think they(family photographs) should be on the wall," says Krauss. "I am very conservative about self-esteem and I think placing a family photo someplace in the somewhere the child can see it every day without having to turn on a device or click around on a computer to find it really hits home for that child this sense of reassurance and comfort. They have a certainty about them and a protecting quality that nurtures a child. It lets them know where they are in the pecking order and that they are loved and cared for," says Krauss.

Family portraits are powerful;  they are a moment in time, forever to be treasured. When the family portrait is proudly displayed in the home,  viewed, and enjoyed every day, it says the people in it are loved and cared for by each other. This is priceless.