What camera should it get?  This questions gets asked a lot of me.  That totally depends on what you want to accomplish!  Mostly, moms ask me this for one that will take good quick snapshots of their kids and that can fit easily in their pockets or diaper bags.  I, too, use my girls (9 and 7 years old) point and shoots when going on field trips or when going to the park. They are much easier to haul around and take FANTASTIC shots!! They make such awesome point and shoot cameras now that it is HARD to know which one is the best.  Well, this is what I look for in a point and shoot and a big DSLR as well.

1.  MEGA PIXELS:  The higher the mega pixels the bigger your print can be without losing it's sharpness!  So if you are eventually going to want to blow up a shot of your little one's beautiful eyes, then the high the MP the better.  This also makes for crisper smaller photos.  

2. ZOOM:  This is tricky.  I know most people want as much zoom as they can get.  However, I look at my feet as my zoom.  Even with my DSLR I always feel like I don't have enough zoom, so I use my feet!  I walk closer to what I am shooting.  Having too much zoom I have found can be a problem as well.  When the camera is zoomed all the way out it is hard to get a steady shot.  The images become blurred because too much zoom was used and our hands are only so still.  We are always moving even when trying to stand still.  A 7x or even 10x zoom camera is plenty of zoom.

3.  VIBRATION-REDUCTION:  Speaking of the shakes, look to see if the camera has vibration-reduction or VR.  This will give more stability to the camera at normal lengths of focus and at its farthest distance. Every little bit of stability helps! Yet, still the farther the zoom is out the VR will help, but doesn't take all of the shakes away.