Can an average child become a tall adult?

[Binjuices]

My 7 yo DS is around the 50th centile for height (so average height). He is very into a sport for which height is basically a prerequisite. He won’t progress into adolescence/adulthood unless he is tall. Obviously not the end of the world but a shame for him. Me and DH are both tall (me 5.10 DH 6 feet) as is his big sister. So, did any average kids become tall adults?

My ds left primary school the second shortest in his class but reached 6 foot as an adult.

My son has sat resolutely on the 50 centile line since the day he was born and he’s now 12 nearly 13. If you look at that for adults, they then come out at around 177cm as fully grown adults which is around 5.9/10 which is a normal height for a man.
I can’t think of any sport which he would be precluded from at that height.

DSis was tallest in our classes and then stopped at 5ft. DBro was tiny, be try little until around age 13. He's 6'2 now.

My daughter is 5ft 10". She was small to average in Yr 6.

I think it's really hard to tell at 7 where most kids will end up height wise. Dd was always pretty short/average but at almost 13 she's only a bit shorter than me and I'm pretty tall. I was always one of the shortest in class (and had two shorter side of average parents) and grew pretty rapidly between 15-18. I really wouldn't bother thinking about it yet.

My DH was an average height as a child, he’s 6’2”. He shot up one summer apparently, like some boys do. His dad was 6’5” and his mum is about 5’2”.

I was a very tall child, the charts suggested I’d be over 6’, but I stopped growing around age 11/12 so am now a bit taller than average but not tall by any means.

I think your parents’ height is usually a good guide to how tall you’ll be.

I'm probably wrong, sorry, but it might be worth looking at both your and your partner's parents' height too.

DS was small, 25th percentile, at age 7. 6' exact as adult which is apparently... 75th percentile.
DD was titchy at age 7, about 15th percentile. She is 5'7" as adult (taller than avg female) which is apparently ... 88th percentile for UK.

There's a whole pattern of being small for age until teen years in DH's family, then shooting up.

Mine was bang on 50th centile for height all the way through childhood, at 15.5 he’s growing about an inch a week it feels like! He’s about 5f9 or 10
now and I’d expect him to be over 6ft in the end (I’m 5f8 and his dad’s 6f1.

My older brother is 6 foot 5. I am 5 foot. He is also much more intelligent than me. He got all the height and all the brains. My Mum still loves me though.😁

Interesting. I thought these predictors are not reliable. How tall are you parents?

Smallest boy in my year at school played professional basketball. He never peaked 5’6”

There's always exceptions to these predictor calculations. We have a photo of dh and his best mate when they were 11 or 12 and dh is the taller by an inch or so. His friend had always been small but had tall male rellies.

Dh is 5'8" and friend is 6'5".

My uncle shot up in his very late teens and ended up over 6ft like my grandfather, but other 2 uncles were around 5'7". Again, all similar heights as children.

That reminds me of my son and his friend. At what age did your husband's friend get his growth spurt?

Sure he'll be tall. 5'10 is well above average for a woman, and since your DH is also a good height he's unlikely to only be average. My brother was always shorter/average through school, and is 6'3 now.

Not until his late teens. Around the time they left school.

My ds was very small as a toddler, then had a massive growth spurt and ended up on the 50th centile steadily throughout childhood. He’s 6ft now and still growing.

One thing I’ve noticed with watching my girls and their friends grow from children into teenagers and young adults is that you cannot tell as kids who will be tall and who will be short as adults. 🤷‍♀️

dd1 was a tall child. She was a head taller than most of her tiny friends starting secondary school. Most have now overtaken her.

at 10 my dd2 was one of the tallest on her class. Now she’s one of the shorter ones. Tiny skinny kids have grown into long gangly teens and tall kids have stopped growing early and are now the shorter ones.

if you and your DH are both tall there’s a good chance your ds will be too. He may just take a while to get there.

You sound like the handful of women I know/worked with in rl. Though they range from 5'11 to 6'4 to be taller than their older brother.

I was one of the tallest in the class in year 7, but I had pretty much reached my full height of 5ft 4 and then basically everyone overtook me. I remember coming back to school in year 9 and suddenly every boy was taller than me.

My D's consistently tracked the 50th centile for height as a child. He's now 16 has hit 6 foot. I was surprised as I'd assumed he could be average male height, which I think is 5ft 9 in..