AIBU to worry my 15-year-old son will stay short?

[Peonytimeguys]

I know it matters to him. He will say something (about how the girls tell him
height is the most important thing for them!) and then clam up but he internalises it, I know- he keeps expecting another growth spurt but who can say that will happen.

i know all the right things to say and I say them. I reflect on how it doesn’t matter, that it’s important build a life on better, less shallow values than how we look. Equally (yes I know therein lies contradictions) I tell him how gorgeous (he is, genuinely) looking, smart, funny and a good person he is. And kids are cruel and school is brutal yada yada

But inside I do think the world is brutal, harsh re what women go for (even the dating apps have height filters) and as much as I try to reject the nonsense, my heart hurts that he will be judged and rejected in love etc - even though I fully realise there are many reasons we get judged, height is just one of them!

He is 15.5yrs, 5ft 6. He shot up about 6 inches in a year - was always on the v short side now less so. Late developer? No facial or underarm hair. Dad is 5ft 8, im 5ft 3. His feet aren’t big

kindly, 5'6" isn't really very short.
My late husband was around that height, and my middle son (now 18) is about that. If your son is currently 14, it's prob a bit late for growth hormones, and he may yet grow a bit more, growth doesn't stop until he's about 18 or so I would think.
my youngest is 13 and feels a bit short (he is currently about 5'2"), but really, with a dad who was 5'6" or so, and a mum who is 5'3", none of my kids were ever going to be super tall.
Neither of my older two have seemed to struggle in finding very lovely partners, who aren't bothered that they are less than 6' or whatever because they are lovely people and height really, really doesn't matter.

I drank loads of milk and ate loads of cheese as a child but still only managed to get to 5ft 1.5.

Yes because that was your genetic destiny. If you hadn’t done that you may have ended up being 4’10

You've had some good advice on here about the things you CAN do to optimize height and you seem to have ignored all of them.

Diet, nutrition, sleep, and certain exercises can all sway odds more in his favour and maximize his height. Do some research. There are plenty of scientific papers plus forums of "short kings" all sharing tips on what has made a difference.

Stop indulging in hand wringing and help your son. Even if he grows no taller you will have the peace of mind that your tried your best.

And yes it's unfair that shorter men don't get a fair break but that is the way it is.

Absolutely. I have no idea why so many posters advised going to the G.P! 5 foot 6 isn't particularly short for a 15 year old, plus he hasn't got armpit hair yet so clearly has more of puberty to come, which means more growing yet to come.

NB facial hair comes quite a bit later, I believe, and that varies a lot depending on colouring (ie dark or fair haired people, and heritage).

Girls generally stop growing earlier than boys, as they tend to reach puberty earlier. In that way, boys who reach puberty early have that early height but then their peers often overtake them.

OP, I hope your son can stop worrying about this, and find his inner confidence, which will be the most valuable and attractive thing.

x

Wow some of the answers on here are awful, I hope your teenagers are blessed with everything you think society values aesthetically 🤬

going on his parents heights what do you expect. He’s not expected to be a tall one. My was husband’s 6ft 6 my 17 year old boy is probably 5ft 8, I’m 5ft 6. His sister looks like she wil be taller than him and she’s younger. It’s just how it works. Although my husband did say he wasn’t tall until 18 and then grew until 21.

you sure this isn’t more of an issue for you than it is him?

Such a mean edge to this response. Why?

Why are you saying people are mean or aggressive when they say that as shorter than average parents you'd anticipate shorter than average offspring?

Tdll him he is lucky to have a natural built-in superficiality filter

Genetic destiny.
I'll be using that term a lot ❤️

Can’t get specifics out of him even when it might assist his upset son?!

No, because he doesn't really remember. And nor can his mum! He's a brilliant dad, thanks

I have no problem with the facts. It's the way they are presented - when someone says it along with 'what do you expect.' - it's just rude.

Wow my 15 year old ds whole love to be 5ft 6 he’s currently only 5ft 1 me and dh are both quite short so not expecting him to be really tall but hoping for a couple more growth spurts soon

My short king husband is 5’2 and he has had plenty of relationships. If anything, it filters out the shallow arseholes who think height means anything and can’t get beyond what someone looks like. He was raised to be proud of who he is and i savour watching him tear down people who make short jokes with his quick wit and intelligence.
5’6 is not short but teach him it does not matter at all.

My husband was a late developer. He remained quite small throughout school by the time we met when he was 21 he he was 6'3"

It's important to help him feel confident in himself rather than anxious about him growing. In all honesty short men don't always have it easy but as a 5'10" woman the worst bit is insecurity, shorter men who act and live like they're confident and not threatened by height are never going to have a problem finding women, partners and people that enjoy being around them. Also as a tall woman, so many men are shorter than me. Tall men are more of a minority really

He’s got another 10 years to carry on growing!

I read somewhere that Danish people are as a nation the tallest in Europe, and eat and drink the most dairy produce.

He's over the 25th centile. That really isn't short, it's normal. And if he's only in early puberty, he likely has loads of growing time left yet.

Yeah, I agree you can't just go and ask for growth hormones. But with sufficient commitment you could get them, not necessarily in the UK. I'm not sure if it's too late though.

I thought you were going to say he was 5ft or something, 5’6” isn’t that short your DS is already taller than one of my brothers and same height as my other and I assure you they never had any issues with girls. I think my Dad was about 5’7 ish and had shorter brothers. I towered over my grandfather on my maternal side by the time I was 16 and I’m only 5’2, the man did alright for himself and was a successful semi-pro boxer.

Some children are later developers than others and I think at his age he still has some growing to do, especially as he doesn’t have any facial or underarm hair yet.

One of my daughters was very late developing. She was one of the shortest in her class for much of her time at school and at 13, she was taken for an 8 year old! At 15, she grew several inches and started her periods (she says she was the last in her class to do so). She is now 5’8”.

My husband was also a late developer. My mother in law once told me that she had taken him to the doctor when he was 16, because she was so worried about his height. I don’t know how tall he was at the time, but it must have been pretty short for her to have been that worried.

The doctor said there was nothing they could do but to bring him back at 18 if she was still worried. By the time he was 18 he had grown to 6’3”.

His father was about 5’8”. His mother was about 5’4”.

That's interesting as shows that those who reach puberty late often actually end up the taller ones. It's something to do with how people only have a limited number of years to grow after puberty starts - so when puberty starts at a later age they have already gained some height by age (even if they seem shorter than peers - that's just cos the peers have already been going through puberty), and then they have the puberty growing to come on top of that starting point.
Not sure if I've written that clearly.... my coffee hasn't kicked in yet! 😲