that kids are getting taller nowadays

[saragoepal]

Hi I have two ds who are quite small for their age. Ds1 is 12 and 143cm, ds2 is 9 and 130cm. I’d say that is somewhat below average but not that much. However they are by far the smallest in their classes, and many kids in ds2 class tower over ds1! I cannot remember that when I was their age that kids were that tall. Is this just a coincidence or are kids really getting taller these days?

I’ve noticed this with babies too. I’m 30 and most people my age were 6 or 7lb when they were born. My two kids were over 9lb and that doesn’t even seem to be particularly big nowadays

I wont disagree MsRinky because I think nutrition is definitely an influence but also sometimes you just get anomalies. My DPs both came from a very poor background. Grew up in the war years and Dad was an orphan and raised in abject poverty and sometimes ended up in children's homes (and not well treated :( ). He was almost 6 foot tall which is really tall for his generation (born 1933) My DM was around 5'6 which is also tall for a woman of that generation. I'm 5'10, taller than my sisters and my brothers are between 5'8 and 6 foot. DH has a similar background, his brothers are between 5'5 and 5'10 and sister about 5'5. His mum was again quite tall for her generation at about 5'6 and his dad wasn't much taller. DH is 6'2. He says he was average until he left school and did an outside job in the countryside, and would drink gallons of milk and fresh baking when he was working. DH and I remember being hungry a lot during the 70s inflation and strikes etc. Our DSs wouldn't know what hungry is.

@JurassicGirl those percentiles seem way off: See here. A 130cm boy at 7 would be around 90th percentile. Although what you're saving ties in more closely with kids in DS's class.

Milk consumption is apparently the reason the Dutch (or was it Danish) are so tall.

I think charts and clothes sizes are due an update. Clothes that come in height dd always needed a couple of years older. She’s 13 and 5ft 8 with size 8 feet. But isn’t tallest girl in her class. Was at Manchester police museum today and there was a book of known thieves in Bolton in 1913 with photos and heights - 3 were 5ft 3 and one 5ft 5. All adult males was explaining to dd just how small they were due to poor nutrition.

It seems to be true that kids are bigger nowadays. Must be better nutrition, can't think of anything else. My small boys do eat healthy though, so it doesn't explain everything. Good to hear there are some shorties as well :-)

DD is just 12 and wears age 14 trousers for school for the length. She still had to have the pull in waists though as she is skinny. In other trousers she's already outgrown Primark kids length, now she wears size 6 jeans.
DS meanwhile is 10 and already in age 12 trousers, again for length but not his waist so he also needs the adjustable waist ones. When you also consider he was born 12 weeks early at 3 pound 6, it makes me agree that they are indeed all getting far taller.
I'm 5 foot 8, DH is 5 foot 9. His sisters are no more than 5 foot 1.
My eldest niece is 23 and 6 foot.
Ridiculous

A higher protein diet is more standard now, food rationing didn't end until the early 50s and that way of eating - bread and root vegetables with very small amounts of meat/eggs/fish seemed to persist for quite a lot of people.
I don't know how true this is, but I was told that siblings tend to get shorter with birth order, and this is something I've noticed with both my families. If people are having smaller families this would also increase average height.

I thought they were getting smaller! I was 5’7” in year 7 and not abnormally tall amongst my peers, every year I’m shocked by how tiny the new year 7s at the secondary school down the road are

@paintwater are you sure of that? The yr7 kids here seem adult size (the girls at least)

I'm youngest of 7, tallest girl and taller than 2 of the boys, DH is 5th of 6 and the tallest boy and taller than his younger sister. Birth order didn't work out there! Just trying to work out if it's true for other families I know but it gets confused as we have a lot of twins and mixed boy/girl families.

I've noticed the new high school kids looking quite small but I thought they were maybe just far away...:o

Obviously - it's nutrition, good exercise, lack of diseases like rickets.

My DP is average height at 6' and his best mate is 6'7. My brothers are all 6'2+

My dad is 5'9 and wasn't short when he was a young man.

@saragoepal in my area definitely, I’ve been noticing it for years! Although older teenagers seem to be getting taller and looking more mature than my peers did at that age so could be that they’re getting taller but having growth spurts later than when I was young if that makes sense

I'm 5'4 at 24 and considered short

Also lack of smoking. Although I grew up in a house with smokers who smoked in the house all the time. Imagine, I could have been about 7 foot if I'd had a better diet and not exposed to smoke :o I suppose the one thing is that we spent a lot more time outdoors in the past although less foreign holidays so maybe that balances out overall?

@paintwater well maybe those yr7 kids are 5' which is tiny for you, but bigger than my 12 yo ds

I think, due to epigenetics, your potential height is influenced by how well nourished and healthy your grandmother was as a child. Most kids today have baby boomer grandparents who benefited from the nhs and welfare state and that is having an effect on children's height. Certainly in my family each generation, on average, is a bit taller than the last.

I thought they were getting smaller too! See some yr7 kids barely taller than 4ft...

Much older buildings always have super low ceilings, it would be interesting though to see if average heights are still increasing (since my time as a kid in the 80s).

Milk consumption is apparently the reason the Dutch (or was it Danish) are so tall.
even though we are welsh that could explain why my 8 y old is 5ft 2 already,hes been on pints and pints since 9 months,even now hes going through 8 pints a day and numerous different fruits in a 24 hour period,not 1 piece he goes through packets,eg not 1 strawberrry the whole tube same with grapes and oranges

i also have a 6ft 2 14 y old
im 5ft 10,dad 5ft 6 but my dad is 6ft 3 and partners dad 6ft 10(height missed him as his mother is only 5ft)

since a very very young age both mine have towered over their friends and been in clothes years above their age

My 7 year old DD is 134cm and nowhere near the tallest in the class. My (just) 10 year old DD is 147cm and whilst she’s always been tall, there are quite a few in her class taller than her. She’s already a size 4 shoe.

I've been saying this for past few years now, teenagers are huge!!

Dutch/Danish are tall with larger feet as the land is flat. People from mountainous regions of the world are smaller. Think places like Peru etc

www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/the-tallest-and-shortest-countries-in-the-world/