GUIDE

We have more than one child. Should we make one family photo album or a separate album for each kid, and where do the photos of them together go?

By the seenow! teamLast updated:

Do both, but split the work: one family album for shared days and trips, and a thinner album per child for their own milestones. Order duplicate prints of the best sibling photos so each child's album gets a copy. On your phone, one photo can go into several albums at once.

WHY

Why this happens

With one child, the album question answers itself. With two or three, every picture raises a small decision. The beach trip has both kids in it. The first-day-of-school photos have one kid each. The birthday party has the birthday child in front and a sibling in the corner. Many parents stall right here, and the photos stay on the phone or in a box because neither plan feels fair.

The two plans pull in different directions. A single family album tells the story of the household and is easy to keep up. Separate albums give each child something to take with them when they grow up, but shared days end up in only one book, or in none. It also adds work for later children: the first album is often full and careful, and the third one is thin.

The fix is to stop treating it as either-or. Decide which kinds of photos belong where, make duplicates cheap, and use the albums on your phone, where one photo can sit in several places, to sort before you print.

HOW TO

What you can do starting today

  1. Write down a simple rule for what goes whereNo app needed

    For example: trips, holidays and everyday family life go in the family album. Each child's album gets their birthdays, first days of school, sports and school events, and a few photos with each sibling. Keep the rule on a card inside the family album so whoever sorts photos next year uses the same one.

  2. Sort on your phone first, with one photo in several albumsNo app needed

    In your phone's photo app, make an album called "Family" and one album per child. A sibling photo can go into the family album and both children's albums at once. Apple's guide for Photos on Mac says a photo can be placed in more than one album, and that deleting an album later leaves its photos in the library.

    Source: Apple Support, Photos User Guide for Mac: Create and work with albums

  3. Order duplicate prints of the best shared photosNo app needed

    When you print, order two or three copies of the best photos of the kids together. One copy goes in the family album and one in each child's album. Prints are inexpensive compared with the time it takes to decide which child "gets" a photo.

  4. Choose albums that will lastNo app needed

    The Library of Congress advises avoiding albums with colored, "magnetic" or sticky self-adhesive pages, and looking for materials that pass the Photographic Activity Test (PAT), which suppliers often list. Keep the albums in a cool, dry room in the house, not an attic or basement. Its guidance gives 30% to 50% relative humidity and 70°F or below for prints.

    Source: Library of Congress: Care, Handling and Storage of Photographs

WITH SEENOW!

Doing it with seenow!

seenow! is a family app for short videos, about 2 seconds a day, shared in a private group. It does not organize or print albums, but it can add a weekly record next to them.

  • Every week, seenow! makes a recap video automatically from the clips your family took that week, so the everyday moments that rarely make it into an album are kept in order.
  • If you want a record for each child, you can make separate groups, such as one for each child with the grandparents.

What seenow! can’t do

  • seenow! does not sort, store or print the photos already on your phone, and photos from your camera roll cannot be posted. Use your phone's photo app and a print service for the albums.
  • It cannot decide your family's album rule for you. That part is a family conversation.

POINT

Things to watch for in this situation

Watch for the "third child" gap

Later children often get thinner albums because parents are busier. When you sort each year, count the pages in each child's album. If one is far behind, pull more photos of that child from the family album's duplicates.

Let older kids have a say

By elementary school, kids may want to choose some photos for their own album, or a caption in their own words. It gives them a stake in the book they will one day take with them.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Where do photos of all the kids together go?

In the family album, plus a copy in each child's album for the best ones. That way no child's book is missing their siblings, and the family album still tells the whole story.

We're years behind. Where do we start?

Start with the current year and keep it up, then work backward one year at a time. A small, finished year is more useful than a big, half-sorted pile.