Ideas for posing a family shoot

So, I've been asked to do a shoot for a family of 2 parents, a 3 year old boy, and a 5 month old girl. Having spoken to them a few times in the run up to the shoot on Sunday, I get the feeling they want some shots that are slightly off the usual script (4 on a bench gazing wistfully etc).
I'll run through my usual set-ups with them but I thought it would be nice to have a few more ideas up my sleeve if things are going well.
That's where I need the help of the POTN hive mind - do you have any favourite or quirky pose set-ups for families that you can share? TIA

Let the father hold the 5 month old infant in his lap, lying on his right shoulder, mom behind him on her kneels, son in between parents is a good pose. This is the most common I see with family portraits. Ofcourse keep a note on the light direction too.

Perhaps you can pose the children in the front then have the parents standing off to the side in the back with a narrow DOF. So you are focused on the children, but you can still see the parents out of focus gazing at the children. But 5 months is that age where some can sit by themselves, and some cant...and 3 is at the age that some will hold a 5 month old in place, and some cant. LOL.

I'll share a picture I did this Saturday at a session. I gotta upload to photobucket first. The kids were 9 months, 3 yr, 6 yr. The photo was a hit because it's "different"...even though I've seen it 1000 times in the photography world.

This is the style I was referring to...some people like, some hate...my husband isn't a fan...but a couple families I have done this for love it.

PHOTOBUCKET EMBEDDING IS DISABLED BY THIS MEMBER. Photobucket sends ads instead of embedding photos from their free galleries. Click the link (if available) below to see the image in a gallery page. http://i17.photobucket​.com …009/IMG_3215_ed​ited-1.jpg

Noelle8818: I like that picture. Im going to have to try that now with my family.

Gordeez wrote in post #8859763
Noelle8818: I like that picture. Im going to have to try that now with my family.

Thank you! I also do it with the parents smooching too. That's my preferred pose, but the children run the shoot, and they weren't cooperating during the parents' smooch.