Son feels bad about height

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My rising 9th grader feels very self-conscious about his height. He is 5'4 1/2" inches, so definitely short, but not insanely so. He is also relatively young for his grade (his birthday is 9/1). He does take some teasing about it from friends, as many of his friends are close to six feet tall (there are of course other boys relatively closer to him in height at school, like 5'6" or 5'8", but his close friends happen to be very tall).

I'm not sure what else I can say to him to make him feel better about this. He seems to still be growing, so the situation will improve, but he is just unlikely to wind up being especially tall. He has a girlfriend who is slightly taller than him (5'5"), and is happy in the relationship, so I am not sure why he is as hung up on this as he is.

Go see an endocrinologist and see if isn't too late to give hormones to help him grow. If that's not an option, encourage him to build an athletic body and stay fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op - he needs to lift. Weight lift. He needs to know how. He needs to go to the weight room, making that part of his routine at school. That will help him reach his maximum height. No supplements, no drugs --- not saying that

??? I thought weights make you wider but not longer????

[Anonymous]

I have heard about the height of my DS from a few of my friends and I am always amazed by this kind of opinion sharing.

DH and I are Indians. Our DS is as tall as my DH and in the range of height for our race. I think that is to be expected because he is our son biologically.

I do not mind that he is not 6 feet tall. I don’t think it will impact his employment and wealth prospects. Also, it is perfectly ok if tall American women are not interested in him. There are enough women in the world that will be willing to marry him. I don’t want a thousand sex partners for him. He only needs one life partner.

[Anonymous]

Height is strongly correlated to success in business and with women unfortunately

[Anonymous]

My son grew close to 5 inches during 9th grade. He’s starting 10th grade this year and went from 5’5 to 5’10. He still complains he’s short. I think boys only notice who’s taller than them. He’s taller than my husband right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op - he needs to lift. Weight lift. He needs to know how. He needs to go to the weight room, making that part of his routine at school. That will help him reach his maximum height. No supplements, no drugs --- not saying that

??? I thought weights make you wider but not longer????

Weight makes bones stronger. Strong bones have the capacity to provide the framework for a taller body. Weights, repetitive stretching, jumping…all will aid in height.

Short kids should play basketball, do yoga and swimming, do pull ups and lift weights.

Drink organic milk and get sunlight.

Last but not the least… good quality sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Height is strongly correlated to success in business and with women unfortunately

Again, this is a White majority perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard about the height of my DS from a few of my friends and I am always amazed by this kind of opinion sharing.

DH and I are Indians. Our DS is as tall as my DH and in the range of height for our race. I think that is to be expected because he is our son biologically.

I do not mind that he is not 6 feet tall. I don’t think it will impact his employment and wealth prospects. Also, it is perfectly ok if tall American women are not interested in him. There are enough women in the world that will be willing to marry him. I don’t want a thousand sex partners for him. He only needs one life partner.

This.

I'm Mexican and am a normal height for my ethnicity but definitely not for where I grew up. I'm a woman, though, so no biggie (literally). I married a tall guy so my boys are on track to being average height to slightly taller. They could have easily followed my side of the family instead, which would have been perfectly normal for my family but not for the ethnicities around us. It's annoying.

[Anonymous]

You can do a height increase operation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Height is strongly correlated to success in business and with women unfortunately

I don’t think that is true. If you are good looking, charismatic, smart, talented...being 5’7” doesn’t matter. I know plenty of men like this. They all make a lot of money and have beautiful wives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can do a height increase operation.

You can’t be serious. You realize this forever impairs your mobility and has a lot of health complications. For what? And extra inch or two? You’d give up pain free walking and running for that?

[Anonymous]

My son is barely 5’5 at 18. It absolutely has bothered him. He talks a lot about how his body isn’t proportional. He obsessed with his legs and wants leg lengthing surgery. We are hoping he will accept himself as he is soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard about the height of my DS from a few of my friends and I am always amazed by this kind of opinion sharing.

DH and I are Indians. Our DS is as tall as my DH and in the range of height for our race. I think that is to be expected because he is our son biologically.

I do not mind that he is not 6 feet tall. I don’t think it will impact his employment and wealth prospects. Also, it is perfectly ok if tall American women are not interested in him. There are enough women in the world that will be willing to marry him. I don’t want a thousand sex partners for him. He only needs one life partner. [/quote


This is all fine but please don't make make broad generalizations about race and height. I'm also Indian -- me and all my (female) cousins are 5'6" or 5'7" as was our grandmother, my brother is 6'2", all our uncles are at around 6' or slightly above.

Side note but my son was below average and really shot up when he started exercising more. The exercise also made him hungrier and he eats more. He's on par with his peers in height now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op - he needs to lift. Weight lift. He needs to know how. He needs to go to the weight room, making that part of his routine at school. That will help him reach his maximum height. No supplements, no drugs --- not saying that

??? I thought weights make you wider but not longer????

Weight makes bones stronger. Strong bones have the capacity to provide the framework for a taller body. Weights, repetitive stretching, jumping…all will aid in height.

Short kids should play basketball, do yoga and swimming, do pull ups and lift weights.

Drink organic milk and get sunlight.

Last but not the least… good quality sleep.

I know this sounds wacky but I think it might be true. My son got a lot taller once he started doing taekwondo twice a week. Lots of pushups, all the kicking and punching against something built up his muscles, and for whatever reason he also shot up in height.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op - he needs to lift. Weight lift. He needs to know how. He needs to go to the weight room, making that part of his routine at school. That will help him reach his maximum height. No supplements, no drugs --- not saying that

??? I thought weights make you wider but not longer????

Weight makes bones stronger. Strong bones have the capacity to provide the framework for a taller body. Weights, repetitive stretching, jumping…all will aid in height.

Short kids should play basketball, do yoga and swimming, do pull ups and lift weights.

Drink organic milk and get sunlight.

Last but not the least… good quality sleep.

our pediatrician told our still growing DS at 17 to not lift too much weight. Some weight is ok, just not too much. I don't think stronger bones makes you taller.