There’s something about the first day of school that turns even the most organized mom into a hot-glued ball of stress. The backpacks are new, the sneakers are sparkling, and the lunchboxes are Pinterest-level adorable (if you’re into that sort of thing). But the moment you whip out your phone for that perfect “First Day of School” photo? FUGGEDABOUTIT! Suddenly, your sweet cherubs are squinting like baby moles, giving you bombastic side-eye, or straight-up refusing to look in your direction at all.
And thoughts and prayers to you if you’re in the “omg mom, you’re so embarrassing” stage, aka middle school.
Now, enter a queen for the ages, Samantha Boss, mom of four, divorce mediator, and the genius behind @theuglytruthofdivorce on TikTok.
She’s here to tell us that we’ve been doing back-to-school photos all wrong. And her fix? So simple, it’s a little embarrassing we didn’t think of it ourselves.
Her advice: Don’t take the pictures on the first day at all.
GASP! YEA, you heard her. Boss suggests dressing your kids in their cute back-to-school outfits on a random weekend before (or after) school starts, loading them up with backpacks, lunchboxes, and the whole first-day-of-school starter kit, and heading to the school building for a peaceful, paparazzi-free photo shoot.
No morning chaos. No carpool line gawkers. No “Mom, stop, people can SEE you!”
“Kids who don’t like posing in a crowd will feel less self-conscious,” Boss explains in her viral TikTok. Plus, divorced parents who can’t both be there on Day One?
This lets each parent have their own “official” photo without turning the first day into an Olympic event of emotional logistics.
@theuglytruthofdivorce School pics #ParentingPlans #firstdayofschool #Divorce #CustodyBattle #highconflict ♬ original sound – DIVORCE COACH | SAM
Get this lady a Nobel Peace Prize because this trick does a couple of magical things.
First, it takes one stressor right out of the craziest morning of the year. (Let’s be honest, we’re all just trying to get them to school with breakfast somewhere in their digestive system.) Second, it means you can actually enjoy the first day without begging your child for “just one more picture” as they inch away toward freedom.
If you didn’t get to it before school started, Boss says you can totally do it the weekend after. Just pick a time when the campus is open, set up your tripod, and click away. And here’s the best part… your kid will never remember, and no one will ever know.
“When your kid is 40, they’re not going to ask if you took the picture on the actual first day,” she laughs. “They’re just going to remember they looked adorable.”
And the internet agrees. Comments under Boss’s video were full of moms chiming in with “YES!” and “Genius!” One even shared, “We do this for Halloween too. Costumes on a stress-free day, big smiles, no sugar crash yet.” Honestly, brilliant.
Boss knows firsthand that first-day mornings can be chaos.
When she was a teacher, she often missed her own kids’ first days of school entirely. “I’d try to take selfies at 6 a.m. before leaving,” she says.
“My kids were half-asleep and telling me, ‘Mom, we haven’t even had breakfast yet!’ Meanwhile, I’m yelling, ‘Have a great day!’ on my way out the door.”
And she’s got one more piece of wisdom:
Moms, get in the photo. Put down the phone, forget the hair that hasn’t been washed since last Thursday, and be part of the memory. Because one day, your kid will want to see that you were there, messy bun and all.
So this year, instead of wrestling your kids into smiling on the most hectic morning of the year, try Boss’s weekend photo hack.
You’ll get better pictures, happier kids, and maybe, just maybe, a first day that feels less like a hurried sprint and more like a leisurely win.
