I do see variations in height amongst siblings but most of the siblings are more averages of their parents. An extra short grandparent can throw a variable in there. My daughters are 5’4 even though I’m 5’8 and her dad is 5’11 and I think it’s bc his mom is short. Not that 5’4 is short or anything, my girls are just shorter than all the height predictors said they would be based on parent height and heights at 2.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry to take this off track, but my son is 5'7", which is definitely short, but not incredibly short. However, he looks so tiny compared to his friends, I feel like he must run with a particularly tall crowd. He has one friend who is 5'9", and they appear in the same general range (although my son is clearly shorter), but his other friends look huge compared to him.

I think this depends a lot on where you live, and ethnic background. We live in an area with a lot of Latinos and there are tons and tons of men & teen boys who are technically on the shorter side. It isn’t considered a big deal at all. I’m 5’6” and plenty of men are somewhere around my height. However where I grew up (super white area of rural MN) the men trend much much taller. I always notice the difference when I am there for a visit.

Responding to the quoted text. I do think 5’7” is “incredibly short” for an adult man. I’m sure you could look up national averages. But PP is right that it differs based on ethinic background and SES.

Anonymous wrote:Height runs through the mom’s genes. My sister and I are 5’9”” and mom was 5’10. Dad was 6’1”.

This is false.

I know twins, where one is 5’10” and the other one is 6’3”. You just never know.

My aunt is 4,11 and her husband is 6,4. Both their son and daughter came in at 5,6 as adults.

I find all this fascinating.

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry to take this off track, but my son is 5'7", which is definitely short, but not incredibly short. However, he looks so tiny compared to his friends, I feel like he must run with a particularly tall crowd. He has one friend who is 5'9", and they appear in the same general range (although my son is clearly shorter), but his other friends look huge compared to him.

I think this depends a lot on where you live, and ethnic background. We live in an area with a lot of Latinos and there are tons and tons of men & teen boys who are technically on the shorter side. It isn’t considered a big deal at all. I’m 5’6” and plenty of men are somewhere around my height. However where I grew up (super white area of rural MN) the men trend much much taller. I always notice the difference when I am there for a visit.

Anonymous wrote:No height does not run only through mom’s genes. Our pediatric endocrinologist who works with growth hormones and short stature explained that kids generally track one relative. My spouse is 6’3” as is his dad and younger brother. His other brother is the shorter one at 6. His mom is 5’4” and the same thing happened to his uncle’s family. His paternal uncle is 6’3” as is the boy cousin while the aunt and girl cousin ended up at 5’4”

+1

I think this is not always as noticeable since (logically) quite a few married couples consist of both parties being around average height. You really see it in practice when there is a big discrepancy among the parents’ heights (like a super tall dad with a short mom, or a tall mom who is the same height as her- average height for a male- husband etc). We know fully grown brothers who are 6’2” and 5’8” (tall dad, short mom). We also know a set of fully growth brothers who are 6’2” and 5’9” (the parents are the same height- both about 5’8”/5’9”). Often kids take after one parent/one side of the family.