I like to set the Drive Mode to "continuous" when shooting animals, children, and people in general. Yes, you take up a bit more space on your memory card. But you also increase the odds of getting the best pose possible. Once you have your favorite shot, you can delete the others if you wish.
To replay the above sequence, I've had the best luck by refreshing the web page.
All you have to do is find Drive Mode on your camera. It's usually represented by clock-like symbol (representing self timer) or a series of squares that illustrate a sequence. In the menu, choose the series of squares. Then start shooting. This setting is particularly good for natural light portraits.
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There's another huge reason to use drive mode as well, especially in low light.
It improves your chances of getting a sharper shot.
1. It does this simply by the fact that you have more photos to chose from
2. When you try and stand still, you're pretty much never perfectly still, but if you were to try and stand still for a second to get 3 shots, 1 is much more likely to be sharper because you were moving that much less during that fraction of time. It's pretty random which shot will be best, but generally one will be better. I find it preferable to just taking multiple shots one at a time.
Also, if you have an SLR you can also get good with your shutter button so even on drive mode you take only one photo if you want to. :) That's how I shoot 90% of the time with the 7D, burst mode, but I don't need to turn it off if I don't want it.