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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Mom of a very short boy here.  Would tennis be a good sport for a short boy?[/quote]

DH is 5'6" and his brother is 5'3".  They both are excellent tennis players.  Played varsity in 8th grade at a very competitive school growing up, and DH's brother played in college (Division III).

They're both lean in build, so they present as "smaller" than others their height, but it works for them.  Both are really talented athletes - agility, endurance, mindset/drive - and stilll play tennis (though their old knees complain - lol) and run.  DH runs marathons at a competitive pace and his brother is running again after some injuries.

As the rest of their lives, they're both very successful professionally (I don't buy into the BS about short men making less money than tall men :roll: ), and they've never let their height get in the way of their social lives.  Both are the shortest in their childhood/high school friend groups and both dated women taller than them before marrying.

My overall advice is to empathize with your son if he expresses unhappiness about his height.  The worst thing we can do is be dismissive of our kids' feelings, even if our intentions are good (i.e. trying to help them get over it so they can succeed).  The idea is to validate his feelings ("Yeah, it's hard to be different sometimes" and "That's awful.  They shouldn't be picking on you for your height or anything else, really.  I can see why you're upset.") and then help him move forward WHILE feeling the feelings (anger/disappointment/fear of being rejected etc.)

As adults, we know it's a non-issue in the long run.  This thread is full of specific examples of short men who have succeeded and thrived in all sorts of different ways.  But kids live in the present.  Reassuring him that his height won't get in the way of a great life isn't so comforting to a kid who feels picked on or on the "outside" of things right now.  So encourage him to feel his understandable feelings with you all at home and then encourage him to find friends who aren't assholes. ;)  Friend groups shift a lot through middle school and high school.  Tons of great kids to be found.

Last thought - Try not to think of his height as an obstacle.  For example, don't frame things as you can do X "even though you're short," or "it's ok that you're short."  Just focus on helping him do X, like any other kid.  If you want to direct him to sports that are better suited for shorter kids, go for it.  Soccer is great.  Tennis and wrestling, too -- especially if he's the "lean and wiry" type of strong like DH and his brother (and my high school boyfriend, who was a 5"6' wrestler).  But there's really no need to reference back to his height often.  Validate his feelings but be careful not to over-emphasize it yourself when he's not bringing it up.  [/quote]

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