By: Emily Shwake

If you have spent time with your nieces and nephews lately, you’ve probably been urged to take a selfie with them. Whether or not taking selfies is your thing, the selfie is most definitely here to stay. And some, like Joanna Schroeder of The Good Men Project, highly recommend getting into the photo with the children we love, calling it “the best things to happen to this generation of families.”

So, if you’re ready to take those selfies with nieces and nephews, or ready to up the “Auntie” on the selfies you’re already taking, here are a few good rules to keep in mind:

1. Make sure an arm isn’t in the picture: Arms are the new thumbs—with regards to awkward photos that is. To avoid making your arm the star of the photo instead of your niece or nephew, crick the arm to crop it out.

2. Use HDR: When you turn on the HDR, or High Dynamic Range, function, the tool takes three photos at once with varying ranges of light and combines them into one in order to find the best aspect and make the photo as close to what you see as possible. Just make sure the little ones aren’t moving too much! Check out Lifehacker for more about this cool feature.

3. Shoot from above: From anywhere else, a selfie can be seriously unflattering. The supermodels who helped W magazine with selfie tips recommend this model tip.

4. Cuddle up: A tiny photo space is a great excuse to snuggle up with the kids. You can even let them take the photo while you’re busy hugging them.

5. Find good lighting: Cool Mom Tech recommends natural lighting for best results. If you are inside, get as close to the window as possible. A great trick with iPhones is to click a dark or light area in a picture before snapping; this alters the aperture of your phone to let in more or less light.

6. Don’t be afraid to act silly: Like a normal shot, the best selfies are usually those where everyone looks like they are having a good time. Kids love to make silly faces and see the results, so go for it!

7. Use an app: There are many free apps that help optimize your selfie. They help with lighting, editing and even allow you to take a picture from both lenses.

And now the question of the day: To selfie-stick or not to selfie stick.  While these contraptions may make give you all more room to pose, the tool has been banned in a lot of places including museums, stadiums, music festivals, and even the next Apple conference. Recently, Disney was added to the list. According to a spokesperson, the selfie stick has become a safety concern in “The Happiest Place on Earth.”

Nevertheless, the selfie stick doesn’t seem to be going anywhere fast. No matter how much it is banned or even mocked, many are persistent in keeping the trend going. Bloomberg even dubbed it “the gift of the year in 2014.”

It’s great to be a Savvy Auntie and join in on your niece’s or nephew’s photo-taking habits and capture a memory that will last forever—unless they want it to post on Snapchat, but that’s a whole other article. Still, try to make sure the kids aren’t too absorbed in their photography. As social media is a part of their lives more and more, many of them forget to appreciate the actual moment. Ever hear the phrase, “A picture or it didn’t happen?” Kids are consumed with updating their profiles. Be sure they are making memories worth saving.

See more Savvy Auntie selfies, and add yours!