The internet is full of “hacks” and this one is for parents.

Lauren Clutter, age 34, shared her “mom hack for back-to-school shoe shopping” in mid-July. She suggests tracing the shape of a child’s foot on paper and cutting out the traced image as a reference size that can be used when parents shop alone. She says she recommends this method “in addition to writing down your kids’ shoe sizes.”

Seems simple enough… I mean, kids’ feet are constantly growing, so if you’re unsure of their size this may be an easy way to make sure they get the right size.  But it’s also possible that the foot cut-out may look like it fits the bottom of the shoe, when it turns out your child’s foot won’t fit in the shell.