Ds is small for his age and it's starting to bother him. How can I help?

[DrNortherner]

He is 9.3 years and in Year 4. He is the smallest in his year and lots of younger kids are taller than him.

The regular pee taking is going on at school about him being small. He is popular, loads of friends, but it seems to be getting to him more than ever

He is 4 feet tall (122 cms) and a size 12 shoe.

Dh was tinier than his peers till about 15 when he had a growth spurt so I keep telling ds the same will happen to him......

It's a toughy as practically you can't do much about it. I was minuscule for years until at 14 I had a growth spirt and by 16 I reached the grand size of 4'11 where I've stuck. I know that its worse for boys but I have 2 brothers who are also short, they always laughed it off, both got involved in sports that had little to do with size (mountain biking & judo), my parents were paranoid about slouching which I think paid off as if you slick and ur small it makes it worse but also standing up straight projects an air of confidence. Could he get involved with doing amateur dramatics or something as it might help with confidence (my older brother did this and is now v.v. cocky confident
I'm sorry that can't offer more advice

Poor him. Do you have any photos of dh before and after his growth spurt to prove it?

I'm not sure there's much you can do, really. I had the opposite problem of having my growth spurt early. At 11 I was 5'7" and had size 8 feet. I felt like a big shambling giant.

Of course everyone did catch eventually and now I am 30 and ... 5'7". Don't ask about the bloody feet though

Snap. Ds1 was a similar size last year and was so happy when he reached the dizzy heights of adult shoe sizes.

We have reassured ds1 that he will be tall as dh is 6 feet and I am 5 foot 8 which is taller than average. I was always tall but stopped growing at 13 and my brothers were short in primary school but shot up to 6 foot+ at 15 ish do it will probably happen then.

We reassure ds1 that he might be smaller than x but he might be better at catching/ running/ times tables/telling jokes or other skill so not to forget that.

My triplets were all small for their ages, right up until about Year 6 when they shot up. Now they're in year 7, they appear to be growing before my eyes, and the boys will be taller than me this time next year.

I have a littlie too (although I think since he takes after my side of the family he is liely to always be on the short side).

I think you should talk to him about how kids grow - how they do it in fits and starts, and some grow early and then stop, and others don't grow til later, while some grow steadily. If he understands that it might help. And he should realise there is nothing he can do about it so shouldn't get stressed by it.

And also do your best to boost his selfconfidence in general.

He is desperate to be in a big size 1 for shoes. The football boots he covets are not in small sizes......

Dh had a good chat with him tonight so I hope he feels a bit happier. Thanks all for the input. Incidentally, I checked on the WHO website and ds is on the 15th centile, so small, but in the normal range.

Do boys generally grow taller than their Fathers? Dh is 5'9.5'' and I am 5'5'', but both my Dad and FIL were/are only 5'7''......

DS1 is certainly a few inches taller than his father.

Red book

How tall should your son be?

Father's height + Mother's height
Divide by 2
Add 7cm

Comes to just under 178cm for your DS.

Obv there is a variation either side, but your DS would probably grow a tiny bit taller than his dad based on this.

Maybe tell him this and that people grow at different times.

I have the opposite - when my 4yo started reception, he was taller than your DS is now with a bigger shoe size! A while ago, my DS was desperate for some particular Thomas the Tank shoes we had seen but they didn't go up to his size. Fortunately he's grown out of TTT now!

People always comment so try not to worry.