One of the presumptions of the self-employed small business owner is that they all have their kids work in the family business. When I get asked if I “put my kids to work,” I laugh because I couldn’t imagine my kids being helpful with my work. At. All. If you saw how they “help” around the house, you would know exactly what I mean.
The exception is my oldest daughter. At fifteen, she has been a primary babysitter for me for several years, caring for her three younger siblings when we are shooting weddings, portrait sessions and other work-related meetings.
On Saturday, she joined me in the role of an assistant. I usually shoot location portraits alone, hauling my own gear, doing my own set-up and tear-down. This adds work and a lot of time to an in-home session where I’m bringing lighting and backgrounds to use in the photographs. Having an extra set of hands on Saturday was amazing. I mean, seriously! A session that might take me two hours to do alone, I was able to get done in an hour with her help.
And while she doesn’t have aspirations of being a photographer herself, she loved seeing the cute kids I photographed, was happy to be paid with eating lunch out and generally enjoying hanging out with her mother for the day. I love that girl!