If you're scrapping teens and older kids

Well I didn't hear the podcast but in scrapping older kids like you said, I download the photos they post on facebook or instagram and scrap those. Without those photos I wouldn't have anything to scrap. Sometimes their friends post photos that they are in and I grab those too.

I have also scrapped things like their shoes or favorite clothes, their phone or backpack or whatever represents them, just to record the memory.

My kids (17, 15, 12) are still really good for the camera. I think it's because they like the scrapbooks, and know that whatever photo I get is going in there. Each of them has "bad" (eg sullen) pictures in there and has remarked on how they don't like being remembered like that...

Also, we always do a picture "for Nana" (smile, look proper) and then a silly/goofy picture full of faces, bunny ears, upside down people, (12 year old provocatively licking a baseball bat!) etc. It's a family thing, and makes posed pictures more bearable!

My boys are 19 and 21. It is more difficult, but that doesn't mean I am giving up. My youngest son and I just got back from Universal. We spent four days in the park and I have over 500 pictures. He looks goofy in 99% of the pictures he is in. No different from when he was 9. One of my favorite pictures was when he was waiting in line with a bunch of little kids waiting to try out his wand at the interactive window. I also have ones of him running from plastic dinosaurs and trying to hex the train engineer at Hogwartz Express. With him, I have a lifetime of fun pictures to take.

I thought of another reason why it is hard to scrap older kids. My teens have their moods, so it honestly kills the joy of making a page for them when they're not being so nice. No, I don't scrap for them, but those pages bring me back to the moments of that time. Sure, *I'm* excited but my son has the attitude of "whatever, mumble, mumble, mumble..." Maybe it will be easier in a couple of years.

Thank you elsabelle!! I appreciate that so much!

Last week's show was an "intervention" for someone who was thinking about giving up scrapping and after talking to her for a while, it came out that the primary reason was that her kids are getting older and one won't cooperate for pictures and also, when she looks at them, she feels sad that they're so old now. I can relate to that!

This week's show is a follow up and we're examining why people leave scrapping and this is one reason. We'll probably continue to talk about the "kids getting older" issue because in our online community, this REALLY hit a nerve! We've had more feedback on this show than any other before and it was Episode 102 and 103! I think so many of us have kids getting older and it just changes a lot about the pictures we get and the moments we want to document. Thankfully I feel like the older mine gets, the MORE I have to document about her. She's just now really doing a lot of interesting things, saying a lot of interesting things and has a great fashion sense, etc. It's fun to take her picture but I am lucky 'cause she doesn't ever seem to mind as long as she's dressed to go somewhere! If she didn't want me to take her pic, I would have to say, "Well then I can't take you to _________." and just be firm about it, I guess. She just knows I have to have pictures because I live for them. LOL!

One thing I have done that brought me great joy in scrapping was doing a then and now layout. My oldest son was scared of water when he was younger, so of course my husband gets him to try waterskiing at about 5 or 6 years old. He was crying and not enjoying it at all. Cut to being 17 and doing amazing jumps on his wakeboard. The double page layout of old pictures on the left and who he is now on the right are fun to see next to each other. It is a great way to visit some of the old pictures too.

In my fam, you don't get the choice to be photographed or not. I won't share unflattering photos publicly but there will be photos.

I started Scrapbooking when the 19 year old was born. His brother is 13. They were raised with a camera and scrapbook pages. This is what their mom does. That's just how life is.

I journal a lot. Sometimes I. Think they like to read the journaling more than even the photos.

My oldest is Autistic. We have walked through some difficult times and I am Scrapbooking those. It's part of our lives.

My kids are still in elementary school so it will be a while before I'm in this situation. But I wonder if there is a difference for people who started scrapping before kids. I started dabbling in HS and really dove in after college (finally had the money to do it). DH and I waited 5 yrs to have kids so I did lots of scrapping before kids. I imagine there would still be an adjustment as the kids change and become more independent but I figure that I will focus more on DH and my self.

I love making then & now layouts!!

I've done a handful of them, and they are always so amazing.

When my DS was a senior, he didn't want to pose for the annual first day of school photo in front of our front door. I told him I'd follow him to school in my pj's and take photos if he didn't get his backside over there and smile! He did, lol.

What a great thread!  I had 2 revelations from it.  (OK, revelations for me, you all may have already realized these things.)

1. Every time the topic of the decline of scrapbooking comes up (either here or w/friends), most of us seem to agree that the major cause is that we all bought so much at the beginning that now our hoard stash is huge and we don't need to buy anymore.  Our not shopping leads to companies closing, etc., etc.  While obviously that's a huge factor, I can't help but wonder if it isn't also about the fact that a lot of us started when our kids were young and we took a lot more photos and therefore had more to scrap.  I can tell you I don't take half as many photos these days as I did even 5 years ago.  I always empty my memory card on December 24 so I have room for all the Christmas pictures.  Can I tell you that I had pics on there from LAST Christmas!  That's how few I took of my teen boys this year.

2. I need to approach this time in their lives differently.  I have never had a problem journaling, so I really need to make that my focus.  I am a chrono scrapper (currently working on 2004!) and I don't want to get around to 2015 and have nothing to scrap because I didn't have many photo ops.  I definitely need to adjust my way of thinking about scrapping them these days!

And as a funny story, my boys are so sick of me picking up the camera every time they do something, that they usually run when they see me coming.  Like mikklynn, I threaten.  I simply tell them I will stand in the middle of their football game until all the boys get together and let me take the photo.  "The quicker you pose for the photo, the quicker I will go away."  This has happened so often over the past few years that now, all I have to do is step foot in the back yard w/my camera and one of their friends will say, "Come on.  Let's just get it over with."  I have them trained.