Tracking a child’s height as he grows in one of the great traditions of parenting. Children love seeing how big they’re getting as inch-by-inch they work their way up kids’ growth charts. Children, as the old cliché goes, grow up so fast, especially once they reach school age. Here are a few suggestions for tracing your child’s height throughout the school year.
Walls or Growth Charts?
The traditional method of tracking a child’s height was to measure them against a wall, drawing lines on the wall as a permanent reminder of when they were smaller.
There’s something endearing about this tradition, but it comes with some major setbacks. If you move, you’ve lost your height record, and if you don’t, you may find yourself choosing between nostalgia and a new coat of paint to freshen up the wall. At I See Me, we prefer using kid’s growth charts, as they don’t damage the wall and can be rolled up and transported if you have to move.
Month-By-Month
At the beginning of every month, take a photo of your child in front of his growth chart. Put his backpack next to him for reference, and mark his height. The backpack isn’t necessary to chart his growth—you’ve got the chart for that—but it gives each photo some perspective.
Brains Grow Too!
Your child absorbs plenty of information during a school year. Show how her brain is developing by using a large poster board. Each month, when it’s time to measure her height, write down what she learned or did in school that month. By the end of the school year, the poster will be full of field trips, facts, and other things she learned or did in class.
Personalized Growth Charts
Kids’ growth charts are wonderful keepsakes, especially when they’re personalized. Choose a personalized growth chart and watch her grow until she reaches her name at the top. She’ll be sixty inches tall on that day—a real big kid!
