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

If he hasn’t any hair then he hasn’t gone through puberty yet. Which means it could be happening soon. You could take him to see the GP for advice. If his dad was a late developer then he will be too. My sister went through puberty quite late at age 16, the same as our mother.

@Peonytimeguys YABU.

5ft 6 isn't short for a 15 year old.

I teach loads of Y10 and Y11 and many of the boys are this height or smaller.

And if he hasn't got any hair and his dad was a late developer then its likely he will grow later.

Just work on his confidence.

My 15y3m is only 5'4. Voice broken but barely any facial hair. My brother in law continued to grow at uni. Boys keep growing physically until 21. Your son has plenty of time yet. Encourage good sleep, a healthy diet and exercise.

I know several 5'8'' guys who are very successful with the ladies.
He'll probably grow a little more, he's only 15.

I measured my kids at 2 yrs and doubled it. I was worried about my DS as his dad's brother and all others his side of the family are shorter than me at 5.5. It's proved right for my dd. Obvs bit late for those of us with teenagers but is worth advising others.

My dd (21) has known her boyfriend since they were both 11, though they didn't get together until they were 16.

He was very short until around 15, and apparently had a bit of a complex about it as most of his mates were much taller. Then he suddenly had a growth spurt in lockdown, just before his sixteenth birthday. His adult height is 6'2".

So your ds may still have a lot of growing to do, or he may not. I get that it's hard for a boy to be shorter, but try to help him see that girls who can't look beyond his height are too shallow to be worth the effort in any case. I'm sure he has many strengths. Encourage him to focus on those.

I wouldn’t say he’s short for 16, my almost 17 year old is almost 5’10” but a lot of that growth is the last year or so and he’s taller than a lot of his friends. I think most boys are slightly taller than the previous male generations so am guessing he will probably be 5’9” plus, but it could take until early 20’s. My son’s dad (who he is the spitting image of) is 6’1 and grandad similar, so I am expecting him to carry on growing for a couple of years yet, whereas my daughter only grew about an inch from primary school to adulthood as was tall when younger (then everyone else caught up)

My son is around the same age (he'll be 16 towards the end of the year). I'm 5ft 2 and my husband is 5ft 9. My son is 5ft 11, and a size 10 in shoes (11 in trainers). My son takes after my Dad's side of the family, where the men are usually 5ft 11 upwards and the women around 5ft 6-8. Same build, all long arms, legs and body too.

However, if your son is nearly 16, I wouldn't imagine that he's stopped growing yet. It would be a bit early. Generally height, is down to our genetics, and obviously this impacts the height of our children. My husband is average height, and I'm below average, but generational genetics have played a massive part in my son's height.

There's little you can do. By all means you could speak to your GP, but I'm not sure they'd be able to offer much help, especially as your son hasn't yet stopped growing. It's a case of trying to reassure him, and make him understand that his height doesn't define him as a person.

He is only fifteen . He could grow up to the age of 21
My ds was 5ft 7 at 16 and is now 6ft at 20
However, even if your ds doesn’t grow( which he will) 5ft 6 isn’t too short

My son is 5'6 and almost 20. He doesn't give a flying fuck.
He's healthy, studying the subject that interests him at the university he wanted to attend, writing a book to entertain himself on the side, socializing in a healthy way and alert to what is going on in the world.

What would added height to do improve these things? Nothing.

FC are seen yearly for health checks. One of our lads also had a growth spurt at around 13 and he grew 5 inches in the year. Since then hes had 1 or 1½ inches a year and he commented to the nurse he thought 'this was it' (17) but she said he could still grow for a another couple of years. If your son hasnt started with facial hair etc i think he could still have time to grow a little more.

A friend of ours has a ds who was the littlest in the class at primary, literally the other lads were head and shoulders above him. He had a growth spurt at the end of y11 and he has gone past some of them.

Kids are cruel, sometimes they dont really understand the effect words have, even when theyre 'joking on'. Asa parent i think its hard when something upsets our kids and there is genuinely nothing we can do to improve the issue.

I just wanted to explain our personal experience and that he still could have a few yrs if growth.

He’s on the 25th centile, so taller than 1 in 4 boys. And projected to finishing growing at 5ft8 - the same as his dad. I have no idea why some PPs are banging on about growth hormone

My son was about twenty one when he stopped growing. My husband is 5ft 8 and is taller than both his parents, I’m 5ft 6, son is 6ft 2. I had a tall relatives, he must take after them. Potentially, your son could keep growing for another five years.

Running can stimulate human growth hormone production.

Your son may grow quite a lot more. I am a little over 5 foot and DH is 5 foot 7. DS1 is 6 foot at 17. Not many boys have completely stopped growing at 15.5. Even if he has, there are plenty of women who will love to spend time with a clever, funny, kind young man. Not everyone puts height at the top of their criteria.

You don’t need that for that height. My son is that height at 18. I work in a huge warehouse and many men are around that height. It’s not a problem

Help? For what exactly? The dr will probably just explain that due to genetics, the kid is unlikely to be tall. It’s not a health issue!

He doesn't need every girl to be attracted to him. He just needs a girl he likes to like him back. Realistically there are plenty of women who don't care about height but might care about confidence, clothes, personality, a good job or whatever. There's no point obsessing about stuff like height that is out if our control.

Honestly this is ridiculous. There's a horribly painful operation you can get - where the bones in your legs are lengthened. I think anyone who has the grit to go through it must be severely body dysmorphic, but that's the only thing that guarantees added height.

You need to go to the GP. My son was diagnosed with delayed puberty.

OP
I’m short, my ex husband is short, my children are short. It’s not a health issue. Being short is a description not a judgement. My son has an amazing partner. Being short didn’t stop my ex from securing a relationship with me, finding women to cheat on me with or to remarry.

For heaven’s sake don’t make it a massive issue by taking him to the dr.
You married an average height man, so why wouldn’t women find your average height son attractive?

5.6 is short for a man!!! He isn't man,he's a 15 year old boy! My dss weren't shaving then,I'm 5.1 , one and oldest DD are 6ft

The boys of my family are late bloomers. None of them grew much til they were 16+ and kept going into their early 20s. So at 15 they were short and looked like little boys compared to their classmates. He'll start getting hairy soon and keep growing (and eating everything in the house).soon enough.

I don’t think 5’6 is overly short for a 15 year old, of course he won’t be the tallest, but it wouldn’t make me ‘worried’. Nearly all the men I know carried on growing until their early twenties and even then, the ‘filling out’ goes on a bit longer again. He’s almost certainly not his adult height yet. But then, if he is, I don’t think it should be any cause for concern, he’ll find people care rather less the older and more mature they get. 15 year old me was somewhat shallow and wanted tall, so I got a 6’6 boyfriend, he was gorgeous, 0 in common though. It lasted a couple of years and I dated a few others, all under 6’ (albeit none shorter than me) before meeting my now-husband. He’s over 6’ but it certainly wasn’t what attracted me to him! So yea, even the shallow ones 😇 can and do change their ways in the end!