With their backpacks, new sneakers, and missing teeth, our back-to-school kids seem so big! Yet years from now, we're going to sigh over how little they once were. To prove our theory of relativity, do like the six families here: commemorate the special day with a tradition and the passing years with a photograph. You may find, as Linda Daffron of Ramsey, New Jersey, did, that a first-day-of-school ritual will come to mean as much to your kids as it does to you. On her son Jon's first day at college, Linda opened her e-mail to find a grinning "off-to-school" snapshot he had sent from his room. "To say that the picture made me cry would be an understatement," she says.

A Pre-School Picture at the Playground Before their daughter Kaylynn's first-ever first day, Charlotte and Patrick Dungan took the Fairborn, Ohio, preschooler to her new school. Photographing her in front of the buildings and playground equipment not only documented the start of class, but also helped her prepare for it. "It was a great time to talk about the upcoming year," says Charlotte.