My son is short - help me get over it please

[Anonymous]

Get over it right bow. He is 7. You stressing over it is doing more damage than anything else. You are seeing him as "less than" and the longer you do that the more he will realoze it.

[Anonymous]

He is 7 years old! If you feed him and he eats properly he will likely grow. You sound insane!
My DS was in below 1% for height and weight at 13! He is now 21 and almost 5'11". He saw a specialist and started to eat and to grow. Yes, he probably would have been over 6' tall if he ate more, as there was genetic potential.
Instead of whining here do something! Go see an endocrinologist and do a hand x-ray and see how his growth plates are.
Or, just become normal and stop being insane! He is 7 years old!

[Anonymous]

Does mental illness run in your family? Cause you sound mentally ill!

[Anonymous]

When you start to worry about this, you might want to ask yourself how you would feel if he had a severe disability, that you could trade for him just being short. I imagine that then, being short would be not at all worrying. The most important thing you can do to support him is to never remark on it, and stop yourself every time you think about it, and reframe your thinking. Kind of like snapping a rubber band every time you want a cigarette.

[Anonymous]

First, short men do not have trouble dating. Men with poor confidence, regardless of size, do. You have the power to help raise a son who shines from the inside out (or conversely, inadvertently handicap him with your own insecurities and issues).

Second, for some perspective, we celebrated my son hitting 10% after many years failure to thrive. It's actually a healthy place to be and while you are aware your thoughts aren't healthy, you are indulging in them nonetheless. If you want to change how you think, change how you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids is really short. 7th percentile for height. I’ve taken him for medical testing and there’s no hormonal problem, so he doesn’t qualify for growth hormone. I’ve focused on dietary supplements, but he’s a terrible eater. My other three kids are average height with one being very tall. I am short myself, but I always thought the “short genes” only ran with the women in our family since the men are all over 5’9” and my dad is 6’2”. My husband is 6’0”.

My son who is short is only 7 years old. But, at this point, with no medical problem and with his growth remaining around the 10th percentile for four years, I’m coming to realize I need to accept the fact that he’s just really small. If he stays at this percentile, the doctor predicts he will be 5’6”. It makes me feel really sad and anxious when I see him with the other boys his age and he’s a lot smaller than them. He’s also not really athletic.

He’s very smart, adorable, funny, kind. He’s an incredible kid and I feel like a total jerk for not being able to accept the blessing of a healthy child and instead feeling so upset inside about his height. There are a lot of societal stereotypes about short people and dating is hard for short men. I’m worried about teasing and him being made fun of, even as an older man.

Can someone please provide me with any helpful thoughts or wisdom to work my way through this? I hate feeling this way and just want to give him the love he deserves.

You need professional help before you ruin this child's life? Your DH should do something to keep you away from this child and this would include CPS and divorce.

[Anonymous]

Mt dentist is super handsome and does very well. He is probably 5'5-5'6" and has a beautiful wife who is his height or maybe taller.

It doesn't matter as much as you think it does. If he is smart and does well in school, has a good career, it won't matter.

[Anonymous]

My son hovers in this percentile too. I feel for the kid sometimes because his cousins who are 1 whole year younger than him are his height or taller, he wears clothes the next size down, he’s not as fast as his friends, etc. but he is such a happy, bright kid. So when I start to worry aBout it (I worry about everything. Thank God for Zoloft) I remember that I had a huge crush on a smart, good looking guy who eventually had a successful career and married a beautiful woman. He was 5’4” max.

[Anonymous]

How you view this will do way more damage than his actual height. You need to accept and love the young child in front of you. Nothing like the weight of always feeling you fall short in your mother's eye to bring you down. Is he aware you are trying everything you can to make him taller? Is he aware of your disappointment when hormones were not an option?

My husband id 5'6'' and my previous husband a smidge shorter. Both are very successful.

[Anonymous]

My son is short and he's 11 (15th percentile). It's not likely to change. He's handsome and smart and athletic. I don't think about his height too often - sometimes it strikes me when he is next to his best friend, who is a particularly tall kid. But otherwise, I just accept him for who he is.

[Anonymous]

oh dear... you need to get grip asap before your anxiety rubs off on your DS.

My DS is 15.5, and he's 5'4". And he's not athletic. But I have told him to never let his height stop him from doing what he needs to do to live a good life.

My brother is 5'4", not athletic. He went to the military, barely got through basic training, went to a public ivy, got a job, and eventually got married.

Everyone has challenges in life. How you and your child face challenges will be more of an indication of how successful in life he will be than how tall he is.

[Anonymous]

My son is also 15.5 and is 5'5". His doctor says he might get to 5'8" but I wouldn't care one bit of he doesn't. I worried about it when he was younger because he was so tiny compared to everyone else but I don't notice it much now. He said nobody has made fun of him for it. His best friend is his age and his exact height too. Maybe that helps. I care that he is healthy.

[Anonymous]

I’m 4’11 & my sons father is roughly 5’6

My brother isn’t too tall

I wonder about the same for my child

I think getting him into weight lifting or a rich card protein diet would help so he’s not too skinny

[Anonymous]

Grow up.

[Anonymous]

Boys grow slower than girls. I knew a very short kid in MS who ended up being well over 6’. He only grew like senior year of HS. Place this concern on hold until he’s in college.