{"id":720628,"date":"2026-06-07T08:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/720628\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T08:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:18:14","slug":"i-gave-a-cheap-compact-camera-to-my-6-year-old-what-he-said-struck-me-to-my-core","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/720628\/","title":{"rendered":"I gave a cheap compact camera to my 6-year-old. What he said struck me to my core"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was walking through a botanical garden with my six-year-old when I handed him a cheap point-and-shoot camera<\/a> \u2013 and what he said reminded me of the reason that I fell in love with photography in the first place.<\/p>\n

A smile on his face and the new screen-free Camp Snap 2<\/a> in his hands, my kindergartener said, \u201cI\u2019m going to take pictures of all the pretty things \u2013 and that means you too, mom!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Naturally, being lumped in with \u201call the pretty things\u201d made me smile. But then I watched him take pictures, and I was reminded of the camera\u2019s power as a tool for slowing down and noticing simple beauty.<\/p>\n

Walking through a botanical garden with an abundance of different plants and flowers, the photos of \u201call the pretty things\u201d according to a six-year-old was not the obvious blooms \u2013 though there was plenty of that, too.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

His list of \u201cpretty things\u201d included a dandelion \u2013 yes, the \u201cweed\u201d that most gardeners pull, which he was ecstatic to find among the weaving paths.<\/p>\n

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I wouldn\u2019t have stopped to take a photo of a dandelion, nor would I have photographed the stamped pattern in the old sidewalk, nor watched long enough to find the frog in the pond.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

Photographers could be described in many different ways, but I think photographers are also Noticers of Things. Painters create art from nothing; photographers seek out the beauty in the world and frame it \u2013 and sometimes turn the mundane and even ugly into a work of art.<\/p>\n

The best camera deals, reviews, product advice, and unmissable photography news, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

Sure, there are lots of photographers who create from scratch by building their own sets, props and scenes, but photography as a whole is a way of framing the beauty that already exists.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

Kids have a way of being fascinated by the things that adults take for granted. If you want to appreciate the everyday, watch a baby\u2019s reaction to ceiling fans and light switches, or a toddler\u2019s fascination with remote controls and cups.<\/p>\n

If you want to stop and take in nature, bring a kid on your hike \u2013 your speed will slow to a crawl, but you\u2019ll spend more time noticing and appreciating the things you would have just walked by before.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

Kids make me appreciate the small things that I may have overlooked otherwise \u2013 and nothing quite highlights this like giving a kid a camera.<\/p>\n

Kids’ cameras<\/a> don\u2019t have to be fancy \u2013 I prefer the ones without games and screens, or he\u2019d try to sneak in more screen time \u2013 they just need to be a tool to frame how they see the world at that age.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

Last week wasn\u2019t the first time that I gave one of my kids a camera \u2013 and it won\u2019t be the last. If you want to keep a child entertained on a hike or a walk through a garden, a camera is the one piece of technology that will help them slow down.<\/p>\n

I love photography because it forces me to slow down in the fast-paced world \u2013 and nothing reminds me of that quite like taking a photo walk with a child still enamoured with all the small things, dandelions and all.<\/p>\n

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Today’s best Camp Snap 2 deals<\/p>\n

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Ready to stop and smell the dandelions? These are the best cameras for kids, as recommended by photographer parents<\/a>. Or, take a look at the kid cameras so good that I’d use them for myself<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was walking through a botanical garden with my six-year-old when I handed him a cheap point-and-shoot camera…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,61],"class_list":["post-720628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}