To wonder why so many parents describe their children as....

[ILoatheMickeyMouseClubhouse]

Being "tall and skinny" and "very bright". This seems to be commonplace on any internet forum threads about either childrens' clothing or childrens' abilities. Everyone will claim to have tall skinny children or very bright children.

Surely there must be some children that aren't those things?

[dirtydishesmakemesad]

then they would use another positive sounding phrase. I describe my 2 year old for example as smiling and chatty. I probably wouldnt describe her as short and fat.

[cornflowers]

Definitely agree with 'bright'; I'd guessed that word from the thread title alone!

[AuntieMonica]

of course there are


mine are all short, fat and thick


just like me


hth

[SexyDenim]

Well not many people are going to boast about their short, fat kids are they.

And I don't suppose anyone would think to write "... DS is the worst reader in the entire class however ... "

[ILoatheMickeyMouseClubhouse]

Positive sounding phrases are good, dirtydishes. I would love to hear/read more positive sounding phrases from people describing their kids other than tall and skinny, and very bright

[Kayano]

I don't have children yet but if they are anything like me and DH they will be

Lazy, overweight and extremely hairy

[ivykaty44]

my eldest is 5f10 and 8 stone - how should I describe her OP?

[gramercy]

Actually I was going to start a thread wondering what we would see if all the G&T thread parents lined their kids up. How many would actually be genius beanpoles?

[RobynLou]

well all small children are bright aren't they? barring hideous neglect. I read bright as being happy and ethusiastic about things most the time

I would describe DD1 as bright, and tall, not skinny though, she's not fat just rather stocky!

bit too early to say about DD2.

[Pagwatch]

I have 3 children. One is very clever, one has special needs and the other is average.
One is 6ft 1 and stacked, one is tall and skinny, one is average height and very muscly.

So I have probably said that about one of them. But I have also said other things

People say bright because it sounds less boastful than clever. And tall and skinny because it sounds less boastful than slim

[BellaneyMimphus]

I know lots of bright kids. So I'm not surprised if people use that word.

[ILoatheMickeyMouseClubhouse]

Describe her however you wish, ivykaty. She does sound tall and thin!

I bet if a thread was started on here asking people what shape their children are, loads would say "oooh tall and skinny, and we have to get longer trousers as their legs are long but then the waist is miles too big"

[HairyGrotter]

My DD is tall, skinny and a total gobshite

[ILoatheMickeyMouseClubhouse]

I actually think "bright" is quite a pretentious, middle-class wannabe way of saying "my child is cleverer than yours"

[usualsuspect]

My DS is average height and skinny

[Proudnscary]

Very eloquent and spot on, Pagwatch (last point)
My dc are average height and build..and v CLEVER!!

[YouHaveNoPowerOverMe]

There is no average for my ds1. He has extremely short legs and a weirdly long torso. Finding pj's for him is a nightmare!

He is very clever when it comes to certain things but significantly behind his peers in others (vocab mainly). He's not just at an average level with anything.

If someone asked me to describe him though I always reply with he's confident, fun and extremely loving. I try to never comment on his size, abilities or lack of unless someone asks but I don't think there's anything wrong with him either, there's just a lot more to him than that and I'd rather focus on those!

I agree that no-one is going to say that their child is short, fat and thick are they.

[Grumpla]

I was a "very bright" child and it didn't do me any favours! Having struggled with socialising and MH issues in the past, a lot of which resulted from being freakishly clever at school with the social skills of a pickled egg I would much rather DS be "average" academically as long as he is happy. So I am not keen to push him into the "very bright" box AT ALL.

I am unreasonably proud of how sunny and kind and cheerful he is though and will witter endlessly about the latest proof of his sweet nature to anyone who will listen. PFB syndrome I'm afraid.

[SouthernFriedTofu]

Because you use their best features to describe them.

Dd is a long baby with a pretty face.

Dd also has just got her 2 front teeth and has my grandmothers gallic gap, and dad's sticky outty ears. Why would I repeat that? My job is her mom is to think of the good in her not be miserable about the bad.

[ILoatheMickeyMouseClubhouse]

SouthernFried, I agree, but surely the good part of every child isn't that they're tall and thin, or bright. Not every child is tall and thin, or bright, some are, some aren't.