Welcome to Round three, the Parenting Roundabout podcast for the week of June fifth. I'm Nicole Ertics. I'm here with Catherine Heleco Hello, and Terry Morrow. Hello. We're moms of teens and young adults and when it comes to parenting, we've been there, done that, bought the T shirt. But we're still waiting for that day when we'll reach the finish line and have no further need to lay down in a dark room A little bit rack over our
eyes wearing about something or other. Wednesday has complaint they hear on Parenting Roundabout, and today we are complaining about school or otherwise quote unquote official photos. So, Catherine, this sounds like this is your story, so you take it away. Well, So, as we talked about on Monday, my son just graduated from high school. And you know, they have an official photographer who stands next to the principle and takes a picture of each kid as
they shake the principal's hand. Yeah, after they grab their empty folder. And I have it's it's been you know, a week and a half or something, and I have gotten like five emails so far from the photography studio with increasing you know, alarmist subject lines, and today's the one I got today was Owen's graduation images could be lost in the digital age. Oh you guys, if I don't buy them, write this minute, no dark web.
That's right. Technology is changing rapidly. How long will your digital's digital pictures be compatible? Your grandparents never had this problem, a photograph blast forever. Oh wow, they are insisting that I buy the the physical copy otherwise, you know, we might never we might, you know, forget that he graduated and he shook the principal's hand. Really wow, few generations shall
curse you. That's right, that's right. So it just it just makes me think of like, you know, the school pictures, the sports team pictures. You know, that's where they try to sell you, sell them to you, and you know, with increasing desperation in terms of how badly you want or need to have this item, Like did you always did you buy the school pictures that they took every year? Decide? I did, and I have them in all envelopes in a drawer. They fill up one
drawer every now and then. I need a picture from way back when and I can go get it. Yeah, I didn't always buy the official school pictures because sometimes they're terrible. Yeah, they used to take them at my kids daycare as well. Yeah, I have several multiple times a year. And we have a hilarious one from when my daughter was like around three and my son was probably you know, six months old or something, and she she must have you know, spilled something or whatever. She had to change
half of her clothes, so she has the most mismatched outfit. And then, of course, so her pants and her top clash with each other like extremely and then they also clashed with whatever my son was marrying. And they have them seated so that he's like sort of almost like sitting on her lap, but they're both kind of facing each other, so you can see her whole outfit and it's and at the time, I'm sure I was just like, oh my gosh, this is ridiculous, But now I think it's it's
so funny. So oh yeah, I enjoy having childhood right there. I at one time made a project of doing various photo collections for the wall of the school pictures. You know they have the ones with the openings like five or six, Ok, you can get the frame. Yeah, so I did I did a you know a couple of like long strips where I could do them younger to older, and then there were some big square ones that I put a bunch of miscellaneous pictures on. Felt very good about myself.
This is what you're supposed to do with these pictures, and I am doing it. And we had, you know, school pictures, and we also had camp pictures, and we had preschool pictures, and we had softball special needs softball league pictures. We had all sorts of pictures. So I have displayed a fairer assortment of them. Yeah, and they're still hanging up.
They're getting faded in the sun, but still reminding me of my children's younger days and of the days when I was organized to pull off a project like that. Yeah, nowadays it would be, you know, five dust covered frames sitting on the dining room table and a whole bunch of pictures and envelopes next to them. I'm gonna do that this weekend. I'll do it. Don't move those I hate theirs, but I'm gonna do it. They are
they're they're sitting there for a reason. You can't move them. Yeah, there are some of those old photos are just there's a few of them were just so cute, and I'm so happy to be able to look at them every time I like come in the door because they're in our entry stairs. Right. Oh, there's this one. I think there is a church photo. So see this. Everybody does it. But they had a thing where you could come and have a family picture taken. It was either no,
this one was it? The elementary school did it. The PTA at the elementary school did it. And the photographer was really good. And my son was kind of wiggly and hard to control at that time, but he had this thing that was like sort of like a yo yo. Accept it went straightforward, so it was like maybe a little rubber animal on a rubb on a long rubber band, and he would just pop it out towards Andy and back pop it out. So of course, and he had this look on
his face. Wow, what's that? It was the best picture ever. He had such a bright and attentive look on his face for once, So kudos to that guy. You know, I don't know why more photographers don't do that, because if you're just standing behind a camera going everybody's smile, you're not gonna get your pictures of kids. Did they do this in Canada, Nicle. Um, I mean we just don't have like the the number
of teams and activities. So I mean we do you know, like the preschool graduation and the soccer and the hockey of course gotta have hockey team pictures. Oh yeah, but we just don't have the the number of kids for it. It seems like it just yeah, we didn't have all the photos that you get here and the little buttons and the stickers and the it's not that over the top. Um. We did get well, you know you
do the class photos right, like school photos. We had that yeah yeah, yeah, that individual no yeah, yeah, yeah, we have an individual yeah, but like you know, just for in terms of community photos like and stuff, did not just school yeah yeah. And with the sports ones, they always are trying to sell you like you know, you can get it printed on a so that it's like standing up like a three you know, yeah, like a like a figurine, or you can get on
a water bottle or a mouse pack or whatever. Like yeah, these schools ones, they're always coming up with some queta. But we don't have Interestingly, we don't have the um like the senior photos like in Canada, they don't do senior photos or even uh, the college graduation photos. Like I don't know if you noticed. I think I posted some pictures a while back, but um o, our college graduation photos are very formal, like the
cap down. Whereas here, at least in southern California, you know, the girls are in these tiny little white dresses and heels and they got their you know, sashes, and we don't do sashes, and you know, and they're like at their university and they're kicking up their heel or I don't know, all kinds of like poses. Yeah, my niece did did this. Yeah, so we don't. We don't have that to that extent. I mean maybe, but it's not like a thing. Um so yeah,
it's a little bit more low key. Yeah, but we don't. I don't know. I have to ask my daughter if she's received her her graduation photos, you know, yeah from they should be official photographer, the official Apparently there was three options for photo on stage, so hopefully we'll get something
good out of it. Yeah. The ones I have that you know, could be lost to time if I don't order them are like a handshaking one and then like one with a plane background of him in the cap and gown holding up the diploma, and then another one from like in the gym during the But it's but it's like a portrait. I don't know, he's just like walking past. I don't know. But the other thing is that, you know, when I was growing up, the biggest thing about the end
of the school year was the yearbook. Yeah, you know, everybody could sign it and the whole thing. Yeah, and at my kids school, you go pick up the yearbook like in August. Ah. Yeah, so they don't. They don't do the signature. I mean unless like you happen to be picking it up at the same time as your friend, Like, so they don't. They don't get it at the end of the year. No, they get it out like the beginning of the next year. Well
that's weird, isn't that weird? Yeah, you should at least have a pickup party so that people will go there and then you can get things signed. But right, I mean they do have everybody picking it up, but it's like a two day yeah window, it's not all at the same time. So yeah, I think that's it seems odd to bed. Yeah. The good news about that for my kid this year is that they're building a brand new high school and they're going to open it in the fall, and
that's where they're going to be handing out the yearbook. So and then what if you're not if you're a senior and you don't go back. Yeah, I mean you just have to go get it, or your mom has to go get it or whatever, and you just keep it at home. And I guess you're just getting it for the pictures. That's sad. It is. It's strange. I don't get it. Yeah. I worked on the junior high year book for a few years and there was one year when due
to a printer's error, the binding was bad on it. So when the kids all got there year books at the end of school, they were falling apart. So, you know, we called the printer and they said they would make it good and that they would have them like later in the summer or at the beginning of the next year the kids could get them. And all the moms were like, this is no good. They won't be ready to get them signed. Oh my goodness. And it was like a tragedy.
This seems like they just they're just going to take that possibility out of there and just say nope, nope, nope, not doing that. You'll be glad later you have a Christine beautiful book not marred by a bunch of people. You know. I remember, I mean I remember as a kid looking at my parents high school yearbooks and reading all the stuff that they had, right that people have mind, Yeah, I am mine. Somewhere we
did. We did a yearbook one year out of the four that I was there, because we literally had maybe seventy five people in our graduating Yeah, it didn't happen. Yeah. Yeah. My husband just pulled his out from from his high school and I think there were eighty eighty eight in his class or something. Yeah, so yeah, yeah, his little Catholic high school. My class was very large. Yeah so it's my seven hundred something like that. Oh my husband that thing maybe seven fifty in the class after us
was eight hundred and that was Holy Cow. And then yeah, so ours was not indoors. It was on the football field. Then they got a new high school. I mean yeah, at some point they opened up another high school. Yeah, but even here they do. The classes at my kids high school are about that size, and they do they do it on the football field with the chairs arranged into the numbers of the year. Have you ever that, I don't know, Instagram reel or TikTok or whatever,
of the valedictorian who's up on the stage and thanking her teachers. It's in a football field. Why, yeah. But it was almost like, you know, I want to thank you for coming to class drunk every day, because I mean the value of um, you know, drinking in moderation and to the you know, to the front desk lady, the administration, you know, thank you for being you know, rumpy with me every time I went to the office to ask for help. How to have you know,
good communication skills? Did a big hook come out at some point? Whisker? Well, I did get to the end of it. So who knows suddenly went out difficulties? Wow? Oh, I wonder it went viral on TikTok. Yeah it's not good. Well, he's got a future in comedy writing anyway. Yeah. Do you think her parents bought the official pictures a day they will always remember, yes, proud of their daughter. All right, well, I think we've we've exhausted that, so we'll say that's it
for today's Round three. Tune in tomorrow and we'll obsess about New Year's resolutions, and then on Friday to see what we've come up with for our Roundabout round Up picks this week. Find all our episodes at Parenting roundabout dot com, then talk back in the comments there, on our Facebook page or on Twitter, where you'll find us at roundabout Chat