You Tube

Could you take a photo of your child every day?

As if busy parents haven’t go enough to do, the latest YouTube viral video craze is revealed as ‘time-lapse videos’. You Tube
These are the collections of images taken every week – or often every day – as a child grows up. They are then pieced together from baby to teenager in a very fast moving clip.
According to the Sunday Times one father posted such a video of his 12 year old daughter online. It lasts just 2 minutes 49 seconds and was seen by 2 million within days. Now, just a few weeks later it has been seen by 9 million.
Another video shows a growing mum’s bump, which gets larger in minutes – ending with the arrival of the baby. This one has apparently been viewed over 8 million times.
Viral videos are the latest way to get rich. A viral video can attract advertising from YouTube from which the owner of the video will get a cut. One family – of Charlie bit my finger fame – have made over £100,000 from their family video. They now have a website and sell their own merchandise.
The Sunday Times quotes one agent who specialises in viral videos saying the time-lapse ones are particularly popular. “It is amazing to see a child’s development in two minutes and it intrigues people,” he explains.
But while we think it is a great idea, is it truly doable?
As any parent knows, with the first child you do take lots of photos and video clips, with the second not so many and it often dwindles with subsequent children. Taking a daily photo or even a weekly photo (preferably in the same spot with your child’s face looking head on into the camera) might seem something that is easy. But like anything else that you commit to, it can soon become a chore…and along with homework, piano practice, washing hair and all those other little dos, yet another thing on the list for a Sunday evening.
And then while it might be straightforward in babyhood, you do need a complaint child or one who is happy to be bribed to have his or her photo taken. And as your child gets older, and exerts their own personality, they might not be so keen. The scene of parent getting camera out and child running off screaming, “But I don’t want my photo taken Daddy!” springs to mind.
We admire the commitment of the parent who does this. And it’s definitely the sort of thing we wish we’d thought of and done ourselves. Sadly though, it’s also something that takes years until it’s ready to view… by which time this YouTube craze, for the rest of us, will be over.

Have you taken a photo of your child every day? Have you posted a video like this on You Tube? Or do you think it would be simply too much effort? Let us know your thoughts below…

Alison Smith-Squire

Alison Smith-Squire is a writer, journalist and media agent selling exclusive real life stories to newspapers, magazines and TV. She owns the sell my story website Featureworld.co.uk, which was set up to help ordinary people sell their stories to the press.

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