How many pictures do you have of your child?

If your little one is under ten, it’s probably in the thousands. Thanks to advances in technology, to camera phones and clouds, our children’s childhoods are captured like never before.

On an average day, I probably take dozens of Sonny Jim. And the odd video. I send a load to his daddy, documenting the minutia of his day. His funny faces when he wakes up. His little discoveries. His growing character.

I take a few selfies of the two of us too. Mostly when he’s fallen asleep on me, all cuddly and cute.

And I’m sort of our family’s unofficial photographer. When Sonny Jim dances with his daddy in the kitchen while he’s trying to iron his shirt for work, I grab my phone and capture it.

When he takes a minute out of being a one-toddler-whirlwind and clambers on to his daddy’s lap, I grab my phone and take a photo.When he follows his daddy out into the snow, his little frame dwarfed by his dad, but so similar in stance, I stop what I’m doing and save the moment forever.

I don’t think I’m the only mummy that does this.

But it’s so important that we’re not just behind the camera. One day we won’t be here, and Sonny Jim will want to look through the photos of his childhood. To see his mum, how she really was. Not a selfie.

So, this Mother’s Day this is a plea to all you daddies. Or friends. Or grandparents. Take the picture. Not just the one of mummy and child posing, slightly awkwardly for you in their best outfit. But the one where the two of them are laughing, lost in a moment. Where they have both had their attention caught by something. Where his little legs are racing to keep up with hers. She might have messy hair. Or not put her face on yet. But these moments matter. Capture it. For her. It’ll make her Mother’s Day.