The time you have to spend with your children is a vital part of their development, and one which can vanish in a blink of an eye. Bonding is a really important part in every parent child dynamic. With your little angels growing up heading off to school it can feel like they’re slipping all too rapidly through your fingers. And it all happens so fast, leaving only photographs and memories.

Child modelling can be an excellent opportunity to spend time together. If your child is lacking in confidence or camera shy it won’t be for them, but the majority of three year olds are incredibly bubbly, and their personality and winning smile is something advertisers strive to capture.

Funnily enough, some of the best ways to spend time with your children are the exact types of scenes which marketing campaigns attempt to replicate in photo shoots with child models. Playing on the beach, cooking together, walks and teaching your child to read are all brilliant ways to bond, but you could take more inspiration from other child modelling photo shoots.

 As your children begin to engage more their confidence and social skills will rocket. The daily development is lovely to see. But so much of it happens when you’re not there.

A good friend of mine works in day care. Frequently parents will come in beaming, explaining how their child has just taken their first step, or giggled that first glorious giggle. But sometimes they walked or giggled the day before. The unspoken rule is you just keep quiet, so the moments can remain and parents don’t feel unnecessarily guilty. These moments could just as easily happen when your back is turned or you are out of the room; there is no shame in missing the very first time something happens.

You can’t guarantee that you’ll experience these firsts, but you can create your own by spending plenty of time with your children. If you and your children enjoy experiencing something new and like a change to your routine then spending time doing things outside the norm is an excellent way to create lasting memories together.

 As a busy parent I’m sure you know the feeling. You get up early to get the little one ready for their big day at school and all the essential parenting tasks can take a heavy toll. Preparing dinner, making pack lunches, laundry, bath times and organising a social calendar far busier than your own is a full time job more stressful than many paid positions.

Child modelling is something you and your little ones can do together, from snapping initial natural grins for their application, to casting and shoots. There tends to be a lot of downtime at casting calls, and travel is likely to be involved, so you and your child will be able to spend time together both en route to jobs and while you’re waiting for photographers and directors to get everything set up.

The added benefit – although not one most parents who sign their little ones up have at the forefront of their minds – is fiscal. Any money made through child modelling can be put into a saving account for when they’re all grown up, and the pictures can come back out to embarrass them as well. As a parent the reward is more the time and unique experience you can share with each other.

Make sure the memories – and photographs – you’re left with are really good ones.