AIBU to ask my friend not to compare our children's height?

I would be very very clear with her that you don't want her commenting on your childs physical appearance.

I am fascinated by how differently boys and girls grow and the way boys can suddenly shoot up a foot at 16yo.

Maybe next time you should launch into an incredibly boring scientific analysis of why this is, and warn her that any mention of height will make you repeat the whole thing again every single time you meet up.

She's being annoying. Tell her to shut up about it.

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I can understand your feelings on this especially if ifs a constant comparison.
Maybe you are taking it to heart when it wasnt meant will malice.
My adult son and i were just talking about this exact same issue that happened to him a child with his best friend (a girl) her mum constantly pointing out how much taller she was than him.It got really bad between the ages of 10 and 14 yrs. My sons 6 ft 4 now and his friend is 5 ft 4.
I asked if it upset him and he said no, he'd calculated his probable adult height from my and my husbands heights and felt quietly confident he'd grow taller.
its probably thoughtless and i dont think it unreasonable to ask your friend not to compare the childrens height as it can cause stress.

I'm amazed at how many women describe themselves as short when they're actually a perfectly average height (albeit possibly at the lower end).

As human adults as a whole go, they are shorter than average; but then that would probably apply to 90% of women, so you're really just comparing apples with oranges.

You're actually average height for a woman 😜

People like this think it's a personal achievement to have tall children, it's so boring and annoying.

It's like the "oh my 1m old baby is wearing 6-9m clothing" brigade - so fucking what?!

For what it's worth, I love that my youngest is tiny - she's my baby one so I like that she is still small 💖 I don't even want a giant child but people like to point out how big their's are to me.

Best things come in small packages

your dd is like a giant - in a tinkly voice

Having been told by a parent she is so proud her child is tall and not stumpy nothing surprises me!! As advised pre-empt it with “How big your daughter is!”

My son was always the tallest and youngest in his class. Then he stopped growing at 5’11” and other boys grew taller, even the lad who was very short until about 16.
I’d just look at her and shrug my shoulders and nothing. Change the subject.

Yeah, that's really irritating. I would say something like "well, it won't last long" or just change the subject with "yeah, do you want a cup of tea?" and move on.

Yes you probably wouldn't care if it was your kid that was taller

DS is on the short side. Any time I‘ve had gloating that another child is bigger, I‘ve mused on how those who shoot up as children tend to stop growing earlier and end up as rather small adults.

If that doesn’t stop it, I‘ll muse on how puberty is set off at a particular body weight and how tricky an early puberty must be.

Usually, though, the conversation stops at how kids grow at different rates. FWIW, boys do tend to shoot up later, and in spurts.

Honestly I feel you on this. My 2 step sons are now grown up but they were really little when they were young and so self conscious about it. Adults seemed to thing it was absolutely fine to go in an on about it. Used to drive me mad
we dont say our friends kids are fat or unattractive or spotty etc but seems it was completely fine to say they were short

Wow! Don't say that in front of her dd whatever you do.

Say something like "Alright, give it a break, you'll give DS a complex!!"

It is weird. I suppose she is surprised her DD is taller than a boy, but it's not really surprising because there is variance in height and particularly when they are toddlers, sex doesn't make as much difference to height anyway.

Is she quite tall for a woman? I am 170cm / 5'7" and never especially thought of myself as tall, but statistically I am.

Completely unfair.

No, but generally it is

@Hokeyjokey I would tell her BEFORE meeting up that can she please not mention the children's heights because your DS is fine but might start to get insecure due to her comments. She's a twat anyway. I would never comment unless it's favourable to the other kid- it's just social incompetence to do the contrary. And I wouldn't say anything infront of the children.

This shouldn’t be acceptable either!

I don’t get why this is acceptable …. but if you turn to someone and say “oh aren’t you short” you’re being rude!!

If she was taller last time then it makes sense she would be taller the following time so seems a bit tiresome to keep commenting on it. Would think it’s only worth a commenting at the point that it changes and they either become the same height or he is taller.

The making comparisons would annoy me as well.

My DD was an unexpectedly tiny baby despite being late and throughout her childhood people commented on how small and skinny she was “like a little doll” compared with her brothers and sisters and asked “did I feed her?!”. Fast forward she is now 22 and taller than all of her siblings including her brothers and a very strong and fit paramedic! Size and weight comparisons are never good and mean sod all! Tell her to stop it!

This is something you challenge at the time, not whine on the internet about. Tell her they're not livestock and that you're sure her daughter's growth rate will probably slow down, if it's concerning her.