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Original poster

Where have all these giant children come from?

218 replies

CredulousThickos · 31/08/2017 20:30

And by children I mainly mean young teens.

I am a short arse at five foot two and a half. But growing up I was about average among my peers, with maybe one or two who were 'tall', which would still be under six foot.

My teens are 13 and 15 and roughly my height. The vast majority of their mates are MASSIVE. Two of DD's friends are over six foot, the rest shorter but still much taller than DD, and all but one of DS's circle are. He is actually the shortest kid in his year.

My much younger brother is 6'4 (he's 23), whereas all three of us sisters (early to late 30s) are my height or shorter. Same parents, btw, so not that.

Is this just confirmation bias or are the next generation taller in general?

I was used to being on the lower side of average but now I feel like a proper short arse.

Is it me or has anyone else noticed this epidemic of height?

OP posts:
allaboutthatsass · 31/08/2017 22:13

DD is 9 and 5 foot. One of her best friends is my height (I'm 5'5)

It's very scary and I fear for their safety if people assume they are older.

TresDesolee · 31/08/2017 22:14

Yeah but vino according to those same suits of armour they had enormous penises, so swings and roundabouts...

BabychamSocialist · 31/08/2017 22:15

DS1 is the same height as DS2 but they both have different builds. DS1 likes to joke and say DS2 looks like the Babadook. Hmm DS1 however is a gentle giant, really, looks very imposing. DS2 is all leg and very slim, it's impossible to get good fitting trousers for him!

Kickhiminthenuts · 31/08/2017 22:16

Those of us with preteens already towering above us. You know we will ALL be called 'little nana' by our tall grand kids

PickAChew · 31/08/2017 22:20

Hormones in GM food cause people to be taller.

Guffaw.

Seriously.

Precisely which hormones in a GM tomato, which I don't even think we have in this country unless it's labelled so clearly that it's offputting to the distributor, are responsible for my 13yo being 5'10? Hmm

formerbabe · 31/08/2017 22:20

I read something very interesting about the difference in height between North and South Koreans...South Koreans are significantly taller. Apparently the North Korean army had to lower their minimum height for their soldiers from 5'3" to 5'0". What I read basically said that as North and South Koreans were considered to be the same race, that it was nutrition which was the overriding factor, as North Koreans endured foot shortages and famines whilst South Koreans were well fed.

unlucky83 · 31/08/2017 22:20

DP is 6' 4" and I'm 5'6" - we thought DD1 would be tall - but now 16 she is 5' 3" and seems to have finished growing. She says she is short but she is taller than two of her friends.
I agree with vino Humans are getting taller and it is due to better nutrition and evolution- not hormones or GM.
It isn't a recent change it has been happening for hundreds of years. Look at how low ceilinged really old cottages are.
Probably the best indicator is rising door heights through the ages.
I know a coastal town with houses/buildings ranging from the 12th/13th century to present day. They are not just fisherman cottages, there are some more 'aristocratic' houses too.
And you can almost put the houses in age order purely by the height of the doorways. (And there are some that have had obvious modifications through the ages - one old one I can think of has a normal height door now but you can see where the orignal door was - a good foot and a half shorter) Once you notice you can't stop - I do wonder how people living in the houses that still have hobbit sized door ways get on (and I would assume inside isn't much higher) - they must have to be permanently stooped.

Eastpoint · 31/08/2017 22:22

I just looked in DS's red book & he was only 82.6cm at 2 years. Luckily he's a good 10cm taller than that at quite a bit older.

Dd2 was 81.75cm at 2 and is taller & probably has at least another year's worth of growth.

Dd1 was 84cm at 2 & will be delighted that she might grow a little bit more when I call her Smile.

Lurkedforever1 · 31/08/2017 22:25

can't yy on the width/thinness showing up more now. On my school photos the combination of my height, small build and thinness makes me noticeable but I didn't stand out as abnormally thin. By contrast, dd who is my body clone always has stood out for her size far more than height.

On my side of the family at least child birth hasn't allowed larger genes to survive. Being born long and thin seems to be the norm. Eg dd was average weight, but very long so was more like a 5lb baby.

Nutrition explains generational differences. However, as fast metabolisms and storing the bare minimum of fat are also family traits, I think it's fair to say the survival of those genes was only possible because of economic circumstances.

squishysquirmy · 31/08/2017 22:25

Tres On that note, I've always wondered about old Greek and Roman statues.
They had very little to boast about. Glad things have changed since then.

Where have all these giant children come from?
custardcreamplease · 31/08/2017 22:27

Interesting thread.

I am 5'5 and was average height amongst my peers, plenty were definitely shorter. We were all straight up and down too, not much in the nork department until mid to late teens

I went back to my old secondary school a few years ago and felt absolutely tiny! A good three quarters of the girls were taller than me, and I noticed a lot of them had quite womanly figures instead of the lanky teenage awkwardness I remembered. The boys were just enormous, easily six foot in most cases

Grilledaubergines · 31/08/2017 22:28

That'll be a grower, not a show-er!

TresDesolee · 31/08/2017 22:28

Oh yes that's interesting isn't it. They valued a certain type of very athletic body, but they didn't seem to place any particular value on winky size. (quite right of course)

Maryz · 31/08/2017 22:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsCharlesBrandon · 31/08/2017 22:31

DD1 is 13 and 5'6" . DD2 is 12 and 5'4", DS is 7 and 4'8". All are still growing and will be taller than me (5'7"), I'm considered tall in my family!

I suspect there is more than a grain of truth in the nutrition theory, although my maternal family seem to breed giants as well.

Lurkedforever1 · 31/08/2017 22:31

grilled plus the word 'huge'. I have found in rl that calling them 'stumps' or 'dumpy', regardless of their width, usually gets the point across.

Witchend · 31/08/2017 22:33

I doubt you were about average around your peers at 5'2.5". I've a couple of friends of 5'2/5'3 and both of them felt they were noticeably small at school and have a slight issue with being small, despite no one ever mentioning it.

I'm 5'5 and about average of my friends, and, judging by the prom pictures recently taken of dd1, who is almost exactly the same height, she is pretty average in her year too.

Grilledaubergines · 31/08/2017 22:34

Oh yes 'huge' too.

And we wonder why kids grow up with such confidence issues. Or display bullying behaviour towards people who don't fit their idea of acceptable.

Eastpoint · 31/08/2017 22:37

@MaryzMy children had their heights etc recorded in American Association of Pediatrics books, these stats were based on US children born in the early 1980s, most of whom were formula fed. At some point we switched to the stats from WHO iirc. I'll have a good look at the two different graphs in the morning, green book vs red book.

nokidshere · 31/08/2017 22:38

Better nutrition, healthier lifestyle apparantly.

My two boys are 6' (18) and 6'2 (16) and were very tall compared to their peers all the way through primary school. However, in secondary school they are certainly not unusual. They are far from the tallest in their respective classes. And there are plenty of girls taller than them both.

I am 5'3 and dh is 6'6 and the boys are "expected" to reach 6'4 minimum. When dh was at school he was 6'4 at age 12 and he was very much The minority (back in the late 50s)

Tunic · 31/08/2017 22:46

I did wonder if the growth charts in 'the red book' were based on global data? My children are some of the smallest in their classes 9th -25th percenitile but when I take them to visit my home country (in Asia) they are average compared to other kids. Isn't height 80% genetic.

ohtheholidays · 31/08/2017 22:53

My 9 year old DD is only 2 inches(at the most)shorter than me and I'm 5ft 5,she's already in a womens size 6 shoe and showing no signs of slowing down and she's disabled and has bad health as well God knows how tall she could have been at this age if she wasn't ill.
DD14 is 5ft 9 and in a womens size 9 shoe and is still growing.
DS15 is 6ft and still shooting up.
DS19 is 6ft and he's stopped growing we think.
DS21 is 6ft and has stopped growing.

WhooooAmI24601 · 31/08/2017 22:56

Evolution, innit? Have you ever seen suits of armour from way back when? People were tiny!

We were at Kensington Palace a couple of weeks ago and there's lots of clothing on display. Not sure which King it is (I want to say one of the George's) but there were some clothes in a glass cabinet and they were teeny tiny, like they were made for a pocket person. People really were minuscule in olden times.

FrancisCrawford · 31/08/2017 23:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SisterMoonshine · 31/08/2017 23:06

I'd thought it must be nutrition. When I was at school (comp) it was near a boys public school. Those boys were all so tall - they just didn't seem like they were fed on the same blue & white striped value food as us.
And, I'm sure my feet were about a size 2 when I started secondary school - my tall DD's are a 7!!