To wonder if you would consider an (average sized and healthy) 8 year old to be a "small child"?

[DaisyLovesMetronidazole]

I have an acquaintance who has one 8 year old DS. She often talks about life with a small child/refers to him as a small boy/says other things that would be more usual coming from the parent of a 3yo.

It doesn't bother me, but I would never have thought of an 8yo as a small child.

She is otherwise lovely and this is not my biggest issue in life. I'm also perfectly willing to be told that he is, in fact, tiny.

Depends - I am sure when my eldest is 16 and my youngest 8 - he will be referred to as the small boy...

I do consider an 8yr old to be a small child...but that's cos I've got a 12yr old and a 19yr old.

When my eldest was little, I doubt I would have considered an 8yr old to be a small child so I guess it's all relevant to your situation.

Well, DD1 is 6, DS is 5 and DD2 is 1.

I only consider DD2 to be small...

Perhaps I am odd!

No, I wouldn't consider an 8 year old a small child, I've seen 8 year olds that are nearly as tall as me! It's all relative though, dd2 is 3 and I still think of her as my baby, but when dd2 was 3 she seemed like such a big girl.

DD is 9y and I would refer to her as a young girl, although not a small or little girl - but is there much difference really?

I'd never tell an 8y to their face they were a small or little girl/boy though - most would hate it!

My 8 year old is small, he's only 113cm and his peers are nearly as tall as me at 5ft.

Is there more to this

Sounds a little like you think she babies him perhaps?

If I am wrong -sorry in advance :)

compared with my children who are in their 20s i would say yes 8 is a small child

Ahh but when your DD2 is 8, your DS is 12 and your DD1 is 13....you may start to consider your DD2 as a small child.

Then again, you may not...who knows

No, Joy! Not more to it at all.

She's a brilliant parent.

No, I wouldn't consider an 8 yo a small child. That term is one I'd use for a 3 or 4 year old.

YABU. In terms of some of the limitations on her freedom/ demands on time and money, eg she would still need a babysitter if she wanted to go out, he would still require a lot of supervision on holiday, then yes, he's still a small boy and would impact her life as such.

daisy :)

Actually, worra, was thinking about this the other day.

When DS was born, everyone was saying "oh, I bet you find DD1 huge now" and the like, and I didn't, cause she was only 1.

On reflection, even pre DC, I think I sort of have always thought of children over 4 or 5 as "not small".

However, I may well just be odd and am perfectly happy to accept that!

It's all relative, my two are 18 and 14 so and so an 8 year old would be a small child to me.

MamaChoo "YABU "

I am BU to wonder if you would consider an (average sized and healthy) 8 year old to be a "small child"?

Well you did ask "AIBU?"

Yes, but I asked "AIBU to wonder"...

I thought I was being mad clever altogether.

Apparently not.

It does depend on the child. Ds1 is almost 8, but as part of his ASD he is very young for his age and his behaviour is usually more consistent with that of a much younger child. So I do still think of him as little. But I'd never tell him that .

It might depend on the context. If its in the context of suitable DVDs/games/bedtime - maybe.

Generally I'd say up to the end of KS1 is 'small child'. There does seem to be something of a step change in most of them when they hit juniors and occasionally may have a modicum of sense

Yeah, I'd think it was ok to refer to an 8 year old as a small child, in those general terms.

Don't see your problem, daisy

I don't have a problem with it, pointydog. I was just looking for a general consensus.

It has also occurred to me that I may just think of smallness/smallhood/smallity in a very literal sense. I think if I couldn't comfortably carry a child for over a mile, I would consider him/her to not be small.

I have a tall 7 yo, who's definitely not small in the literal sense but for me, as the 'baby' of the family (have also a ginormous 13yo and a largish 11yo) is small as in young.

If someone asked me if I had a small child I'd mention her, but say she's not very small (does any of that make sense? I suppose I'm saying that a 7/8yo is on the cusp of 'smallness')

I would say an 8 year old is a medium child :) If you view childhood as being between age 0 and 16 then they are halfway through, after all.

DD1 is 8 and at the weekend we went were playing a game with trivia questions and there were different questions for 'young children' and 'older children'. I wasn't sure which questions would be appropriate for her and it turned out the younger ones were better. That's a bit of a different situation, though, because the age range for the game might start at age 5. I would never refer to dd1 in general conversation as a 'small child'.