If your kid looks constipated in pictures, Pennsylvania dad Adam Perry has a hilarious solution.
Perry shared two side-by-side photos of his then-5-year-old son on social media. In the left image, the preschooler wears a pained-looking smile similar to the grimacing face emoji, but in the right snap, he is ready for catalog work. His smile is relaxed and genuine.
“My son when I tell him to smile vs when I yell out ‘poop!’” Perry, 38, wrote on Twitter in 2022, in a post that went viral.
“Congrats! You’ve revealed the secret and unlocked the next level of parenting,” one person replied.
Added another, “This is why I volunteered at my kid’s school for picture day when they were little. If I’m paying $50 for those things, I want a good picture. Our code word was ‘fart’ though. Same reaction.”
One person joked that “poop jokes” are the only way to get family photoshoots accomplished.
Perry, a children’s book author, said that he and his wife Andrea discovered early on that the only way to get a decent shot of their little boy is to make him laugh.
Poop was the obvious choice.
“He’s found poop to be funny for a long time!” Perry told TODAY Parents at the time.
Perry said that his son is very much enjoying internet stardom.
“He is very excited to be, in his words, famous,” Perry shared. “He had a little article and his picture in the local paper. He’s having his 15 minutes a little early and thinks it’s all very cool.”
Since sharing the side-by-side pictures on social media, Perry has been inundated with appreciation from other moms and dads, who were frustrated with their kids’ awkward smiles.