The Highlights

The Tricky Part: The Weird Smile

Every child goes through this phase. If your child didn’t, your child is a unicorn and thank your lucky stars. How do we deal with it?

Realize it’s A Phase, and it’s not personal

This is an age where your child is learning their social smile. It’s something we all need to practice to make perfect, and your child just hasn’t practiced it much yet! To be fair, almost all adults have a “fake” smile and most of us can spot one- although our social smiles are much closer to the real thing.

Don’t Call Them Out

I know as a mom you want to be like “Where’s your real smile?! That’s not it! Give me your real smile!” I get it. I’ve been there. But please, don’t do this. First, it’s not helpful. Your child doesn’t know HOW to fix it, and it will only frustrate your child as much as it frustrates you. 90% of the time you’re going to end up with an even WEIRDER smile after this.

Let’s Get them laughing

The best way to correct a weird smile is to get an actual giggle. Some kids respond well to a simple request for them to giggle. Some kids need a little help to get the ball rolling, so I’ll try a few different things and see if we can get a laugh. Feel free to bring me some ideas of things that might work. For instance, my four year old thinks scaring people is HILARIOUS, so a good ROAR from him (with an appropriate scared response from his audience) usually leads to a full-on belly giggle.

Embrace it

Just speaking as a mom for a moment, sometimes we just need to embrace it. At the moment you may be frustrated by your child’s “weird” smile, but give it a couple of years and you’re going to look back and laugh, and you’re going to love that you caught that sweet, awkward smile stage.

Snacks

Bring snacks for just before the session, and make sure your child is well fed. Let’s avoid hangry kids!

Rewards

Kids this age love rewards! Both immediate and long-term. Let them know what they can look forward to if they do a great job at the session!