Where have all these giant children come from?

[CredulousThickos]

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?

Regarding 'huge' and 'giant', I've been quite clear that I consider us shortarses short and stumpy/dumpy, tiny, blah blah blah.

It's not a slur. Or if it is, it's an equal opportunity one.

If at any point I'd suggested one was preferable over the other you may have a point. But I ain't, so you ain't.

My eldest gets a LOT of shit, often physical, for being small. I firmly reject any insinuation that I was pitting short against tall. This was purely a question about the proliferation of 6'+ teenagers now compared to in the 70/80s.

I always assumed it was to do with nutrition. Anecdatally I am 5 10 and so are both my parents. My only living grandparent is significantly shorter, but she grew up poor in the 1930s and then wartime rationing started around the time you might otherwise expect a teenage growth spurt.

tunic dd's 13 so may have changed but I was told it was based on Caucasian populations, with Asians usually being below the 50th and Afro Caribbeans above.

I remember it clearly because dd inherited an unusual combo of genes (from various different places) and is very dark, and the fuck wit hv kept insisting it was abnormal for an Asian baby to be so tall, and could she perhaps have Afro carribean genes. Because clearly the 6' white mother wasn't enough of a clue as to where the height came from, or the fact 'Asian' covers a huge range of very different populations.

The Dutch have gone from being amongst the smallest Europeans to the tallest in a couple of generations and one theory is that it's down to their diet. With an average intake of dairy products that's 25% greater than that of the UK, Germany or USA, their diet is rich in protein, calcium and energy.

Overweight children may be taller than average but this doesn't necessarily progress to taller adults. Overweight children tend to enter puberty earlier and so stop growing earlier too. Children with less body fat start puberty later but therefore from a taller base height.

So, it would appear that a diet that is rich in protein, calcium and energy but not excessive in the latter will lead to more children achieving their potential maximum height as defined by their genes.

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.

I read somewhere years ago that Ancient Greek and Roman sensibilities dictated that a statue of a "civilised" male would have a small willy, but an "uncivilised" male would be much larger (bestial).
Greeks did have a demi god that was portrayed on vases and sculpture with a ginormous todger (and fully erect what's more).

theconstantine

If it is dairy based then I am right to suspect my tiny 2 year old (not yet fitting into 18-24 month clothes), is going to have an almighty growth spurt at some point! Both me and her father are above average height, so I am waiting for the "oh god none of her clothes fit" moment one day.

We have just returned from a holiday where there were lots of German, Swiss and Dutch families. It was noticeable that many of them were much taller than average.
I'm 5'8" and my dh is 6' but we felt quite petite when we were standing amongst them.

It always amazes me to walk past those old pubs and houses, with tiny doors because the people used to be so short.

It also amazes me to see the year 6 children at my dc's primary school. I've always considered myself to be average height, but so many of them are taller than me.

My DD always looked tall according to the charts (75%) with weight around the 25th and i thought she would bea luckyone but it began to taper off from 9. She's 11 now and so short at the last annual sports squad photos she was standing with year 4s.

At the orthodontist 2 years ago, her wrist/ growth platelets were xrayed and she was given an expected height of 5' 1!! I thought there was a number missing.

The dutch thing isn't so much dairy as buttermilk. If you're intetested in gut flora etc and the physical effects on the body, the Dutch height increase is very interesting.

I know what you mean OP. I'm 5'4" and these days I feel very very short! I did have an interesting experience of living in Japan for several years in my twenties and while I was on the slightly taller side for Japanese women in my age range and definitely taller than Japanese women in older age ranges, the Japanese teenegaers roaming around the place were shockingly tall compared to older generations! This was the early 2000's and it was assumed to be the result of increased amounts of meat protein in their diets as the western diet was slowly taking a hold in Japan.

It might also have been an increase in dairy consumption now I think of it. The Japanese are famously traditionally lactose intolerant but things like milk tea/ cream tea and ice creams were also an increasingly popular item in recent decades.

just random genetics at work is all,
im 5'1 my husband is 6'4 and our 9 yr old son is just a couple of inches shy of my height,
my mum is 5' ( maybe, shes real short) and my father was 6'2 ,
her mum was about 5'6 ( as is my aunt and 17 yr old daughter, my sister is 5'4)
and mums dad 6' something,
so with all that, genetic wise, its a total lottery on what height you get i guess,
most of our nana's family line are very average in height ( nana's aunts, sisters and cousins etc)
where as my mothers fathers line the men are very tall and the woman very round, ( we dont know them as they are in a very strict religious sect that strongly discourages contact with non members)
I guess we look very odd with such a huge difference in heights,
im just pleased the kids have the tall genes and will never have to get a chair to reach the top two shelves in the pantry!

My DH is 6 2"
My eldest son at 18 is just under 6"
My younger son is 5 4"
I'm surprised my eldest isn't taller as l'm 5 8"
When do teen males stop growing?
Our daughter is only 8, and although a string bean , is much taller than her classmates!

Younger son is only 14 ( last week)

I feel you op! Some of my 9 year olds friends tower over me

Apparently humans are getting taller it is proven. Humans used to be a great deal shorter centuries ago.

I'm 4'11 and this week my 9 (yes 9!!!) year old's best friend came round and he's taller than me.

I don't think they are generally taller though as I had loads of 6 foot plus friends as a teenager and my cousins who are the same age as myself and my siblings all range from 6'2 (female) to 6'8. I'm just from the shortarse side of the family we range from 4'11 (me) to 5'7&1/2 (my brother states that the 1/2 is very important)

Mum was 5ft 1in, Dad was 6ft 1 in. I think my bro's are about 5ft 10 in. I am 5ft 4in but feel cheated.Mum said my dad's family thought I would be very tall!

I feel this. I am quite short. But I never felt it this badly. Most girls at school were 5'6 or 5'7.

Now I see tall thin girls with legs up to their armpits. They are 5'10 minimum. They are so toned and athletic, like a totally different species.

I just can't work out exactly how it's happened. And how it happened so quickly.

I can't believe it's just GM food, only?

I'm 5'2" and I've noticed the young'uns are definitely taller now than when i was in secondary.
My DH is 6'5" and our 3 year old is close to 4ft. I feel like a proper shortarse

I'm 5'1", and have been this height since my last year in primary school 36 years ago. Then I was the tallest kid in my class - hard to imagine now. I take DD3 to school now and see children in P6 and P7 who tower over me. Give it anothet couple of hundred years and we'll have six foot tall eight year olds. Oh, and on the subject of height, 18 year old DD1 has just grown another inch in the past few months! She's still a relative 5'4" short arse like the rest of us, though.

Apparently humans are getting taller it is proven. Humans used to be a great deal shorter centuries ago.
But there seems also to be a (scientific) view that this has tailed off, so we shouldn't be seeing it happening much now:

www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-we-getting-taller/

I have really enjoyed this thread. It is a fascinating topic.
I have 4 dc. The boys in particular have always been smaller than average, although not the smallest. At 12 ds1 is 4ft 10, size 3.5 feet and on the 12th centile for height and weight. He is also showing very few signs of puberty. DD1 is 9, 4ft 7, size 3 feet and also ranges between the 10th-20th centile for bmi. Ds2 and dd2 are following a similar pattern.
I think there are a lot of children who are 'heavier' than my dc who actually may be tall now but will hit puberty early and be no taller than them eventually.My ds's in particular grow really slowly but dh didn't grow until he was 16 so they seem to follow that trend.

I wonder whether more spaced out pregnancies have an impact too? Contraception means that we're having fewer children, but those children are healthier perhaps?