I discovered your question last week, and thought I replied, but evidently my reply didn't make it back to your pic. "Wide Open" means using the widest apeture that your lens will allow. For example if your lens has available f-stops of 4-22, try to shoot at f4. This gives a professional blur to the background, the kind you see in professional portraits and fashion shoots. Of course with a group image you need adequate DOF for all rows of people. In bright light of course you may be limited in that you might exceed the maximum shutter speed. Also if using fill flash, you can't exceed the top shutter speed for your flash. The only two options then would be to use slower film or use a neutral density filter. Of course those choices would be much simpler in a digital format.
The wider-than-normal view emphasizes his broad shoulders, something a parent would admire. I might have been inclined to crop a little tighter. Fill flash would have helped to bring a sparkle to his eyes. He looks a little pale, a warming filter, or boosted magenta in photoshop might have helped. I would have liked more background blur, did you shoot wide open? Really good background.
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