I doubt I could honestly say that my parents were bad at taking pictures of us as kids. Back at my parents' house, there are albums upon albums of photos of my sister and I - baby pictures, pictures of us at school plays or family trips to the zoo.

And although I cherish looking at pictures of times gone by, and do indeed remember many events pictured in the photos, it's the memories that were not photographed that come to mind when I think back on my childhood.

My strongest memories of growing up cannot be found in the pages of those albums. I have no pictures of my father falling asleep while reading me bedtime stories. There are no photos depicting my grandfather's funeral. No scrapbook pages illustrating the Passover plays I would orchestrate with my cousins in the days when all of us were together for the holiday. There are no physical mementos from the day I rode my bicycle around the block alone for the very first time.

And perhaps it's because I realize that although it is important to take pictures, and record our childrens' childhood, not everything can - or should - be captured on camera. We have a saying in the orthodox community (where photography on the Sabbath is not allowed) that the best "Kodak moments" happen on Shabbat. But I don't think that means we need to be trigger-happy on the other days of the week to compensate.

The mother of a friend of mine is never seen without her camera. I think I may have mentioned this before. I swear she records every minute of her grandchildren's lives. When the kids do something cute, and she missed the moment, she'll instruct them to do it again for the camera; to pose for the camera. Again. And again.

Is there anything wrong with that? Though I'm not usually the one to judge others for their decisions, I guess I'm just afraid that at the end of the day, she will have missed so much of being in the moment with her grandchildren.

So for me, I do take pictures. But I don't fight to be in the front row at every school play. I don't take a camera with me every time we go outside. I don't even think about developing pictures for months if not years at best (we just developed pictures from Anna's adoption party - from November 2005).

I prefer to be an active participant in my childrens lives. And selfishly, I think everything looks better when viewed from the lens in your own eye, rather than the one in the camera.