Oh, the childhood ritual of doorway height recording. You’d stand as straight as humanly possible as Mom or Dad would draw a line at the top of your head and write the day’s date. Then you’d step back and view the results. Hey, look! You grew three-quarters of an inch! Your parents would smile and give you a high-five—and then secretly cry a little as you’d run off to play.
It’s a sweet tradition, one that I’d like to keep up with now that I have kids. The problem is that you can’t draw on walls if you’re renting—and even if you own, you have to leave the chart behind if you move. But behold, I’ve discovered a solution on Instagram, and it’s pretty brilliant: You track your child’s growth on a tape measure.
Just cover the tape with white spray paint or acrylic paint and it becomes a blank canvas, ready for you to document your kid’s many milestones. Using a thin permanent marker, you can add birthday height markers and anything else you can think of—funny quotes from that year, special achievements or favorite hobbies. Call it a “memory stick,” if you’d like. If you have multiple children, you can make a stick for each of them. I’ve started one for my seven-month-old baby Max.
Years later, when your kids graduate high school, you can give them their tape measure—a unique record of their youth. It’s small, portable and can easily go wherever life may take them.