[Tom Edgerton]

There's a lot of good advice here already, but here are my suggestions also:

Tell the parent(s) of the pitfalls in advance. Let them know that expecting two- or three-year olds to cooperate and pose is a long shot. They need to tailor their expectations realistically to the childrens' ages. You can't MAKE something happen if it isn't likely. You can only pray and catch it if it does.

Make the parents give you all day, and be there for you. You can't be scheduled for 45 minutes between Komputer Kamp and Tadpole Swim at the Y and be expected to get anything. That way, if it's not happening, you can try again later in the day. Small children can only hang in there for short bursts. And Marvin's DEAD ON about the sugar thing.

Take someone with you to baby wrangle, if possible. If they have the kids plus a couple of adults, and all you have is you, you're outnumbered from the beginning. You need someone from your team on YOUR side.

Have a couple of ideas re: composition in your head in advance, but be prepared to scrap these and go with the flow. If they insist that they want a group setup, photo the children as early in the session as possible together without trying to control expressions too much, and then have all but one taken out of the room and work with them individually to back up and reinforce what you saw in the group--this is where you try and get the ideal expressions. You will probably never get a good expression from all the kids in one shot, so you're still going to have to assemble the composition from a number of shots.

Try and feel if the kids are "acting out" with the parents. If you think this is happening, have the adults leave but casually "orbit" in another area. Sometimes, believe it or not, they do better one-on-one with you. In other words, see whether the children are better with or without the adults there. Once I had a mother flying around the room, jamming prop toys in the kid's hands and generally freaking her out, so I sent her to get me a glass of water. I followed her into the kitchen, and diplomatically said that we seemed to be doing fine, just the two of us, so could we try it that way. When I returned, the child instantly became calm and serene, and very cooperative for her age with just me there--it was so much more intimate. In a later shoot, however, she wouldn't give me jack, so we just quit trying for that day.

In short, go in with your radar out, and be alert for the unexpected solution.

But I also agree with Mike's tactic that if someone is supposed to make them behave, your position is that it's the parents and not you. If they can't, how are you supposed to? It's not the kid's birthday, and you're not Chuckles the Clown.

Love to everybody, everywhere, especially to artists--TE