My son hates being short.

My son was just under 4´11 at 14, and 5’9 at 19. He hated being short, one thing that helped was the gym and a personal trainer. He has fantastic posture and it helped him feel confident and make the best of his height. People often think he is actually tall (which he’s not) just because of the way he carries himself.

You're asking for advice and that will differ based on whether he's short or really short or really, really short. Why not say?! It's not exactly outing!

My parents are 5ft 2 and 5ft 8- my brother and I never reached that as I am 4ft 11 and my brother is 5ft 6 and we are both blessed with the long body and short legs! He used to be very skinny as well but I honestly don’t think it has ever bothered him. He has always been very popular with the ladies and both serious girlfriends have been much taller than me! He has always gymed but has only been as he has got older and done it more that he has bulked out at all. Basically being short has never held my brother back from being popular with girls, sports or anything even though he has always been quite a lot shorter than his mates!

My 12 year old is short. He’s on the 99th centile thing. He’s always been the shortest in school and with his friends. Last year he asked me for inserts for his shoes to make him taller. He loves basketball but never gets picked.
I am 5ft 4 and dad is 5ft 7. My brothers are all over 6ft.
His big brother is 17 and shot up to 6ft when puberty hit. I reassure him that his time will come, although I have told him he probably won’t be as tall as his brother.
I’ve had to tell his siblings not to tease him as it really does hurt his feelings.

Exactly this. Apparently the average height for a 14 year old boy is approx 5ft 4. So if he’s, say, 5ft 2 then the advice will be different to if he is 4ft 6.

If it makes you feel any better, my son was the same at that age. Definitely on the late side to grow and hit puberty and very self conscious about it. He's now around 5ft7 at age 18 and is much happier about it. There seems to be plenty of his friend/year group of a similar height. I think they probably just grew before him but have now evened out.

Hopefully your son will feel a bit happier in his own skin as he grows older.

Height isn’t the be all and end all. If people don’t respect you or want to date you because of your size then they are not worthy of either in return. Being a short man leads to growing a thick skin and standing up for yourself in lots of different ways. Standing talll (as you can) and defying those looking down on you. Need to teach him to be content with who he is. Not being content with who you are and what you look like can be a slippery slope to body dismorphia , self harm and low self esteem.

You’re not allowed to ask his height. On a post about his issues with his height. Apparently. 😄

I know what you mean OP, my DS is the same though he’s a bit younger than your DS and I do think I hope he gets to at least 5”8 but I’m doubtful because my DD is 16 and only 5”1 at the most.

We’ll love them for how ever tall they are of course, but we don’t want them to have the added pressure of it making them self conscious.

My almost 11 year old is on the 14th centile for height. He hates it, it’s the first thing other kids bring up if they’re ribbing each other, and he’s constantly asking me when he’s going to get taller. I’m a smidge under 5’5 and his dad is 6’2 so no idea why he’s so short, but I just tell him it is what it is. One of the only things we can’t do is make them grow!

At 14 he probably still has a lot of growing to do. My youngest was quite short at 14 and now at 16 he’s over 6 ft and taller than his dad and big brother! I’m 5 ft 7 and my husband is around 5 ft 9, eldest is around 5 ft 10

Not sure being defensive/evasive about his actual height and then being snarky with others is helping you at all. It sounds like you're more conscious of it than he is.

To be fair I think advice will vary widely depending on where his height is currently. If he’s currently 5’5” or 5’6” at 14 then he’s being a bit silly and needs reassurance. If he’s 4’9” still then he needs medical evaluation to check for issues and may potentially need a lot more help to accept a very short adult height.

Boys don't stop growing til they are late teens so really wouldn't worry yet. I remember looking at the pics of both DDs and their friends in the last 5yrs. The "dinky" ones caught up very impressively.

My older two boys are 5ft 6ins (same height as me) currently, they have always been small for their age (15/16) but both are having a growth spurt now. They are keen to get to 6ft- dad is 5ft11.

Boys can continue to grow until late teens/ early 20's.

😂😂😂

If the OP states the height it will be very outing 🙄🙄🙄🙄

My DS was the smallest boy in his year throughout primary school, and much smaller than average up until age 15. He then grew like topsy for the next few years and is now 6ft. His dad is 5.6, as am I.

Obviously this may well not happen - but I want to reassure you that growth after 14 isn’t unusual. I’d also echo the PP who mentioned playing sport and just keeping active.

It is hard though - I completely get that. I’d not heard about Tinder’s height filters - how tragic.