Is it true that boys always grow up to be taller than their mothers?

[ElectraInExcelsis]

Or is it an urban myth?

actually, I thought they are supposed to grow to be taller than the average of both parents???
DS has been smaller than his class mates for ever, and been teased/bullied as a result. At 15, he is now taller than me (5'4") and almost as tall as his dad (5'9"). Not a scientific sample size, but hope this gives those of you with small boys some hope!

P.S. have read that girls stop growing at around 16 whereas boys keep on growing til 18-21....

lilolil, I believe that girls do not grow that much more in height after their periods start

this is true of my dd, who absolutely shot up between ages of 8 and 12 and seems to have slowed up a bit since starting about a yr ago, her friends now seem to be catching up a bit. She is 13 and 5ft 4

boys do continue to grow and add muscle mass until 19 or so

guess it depends when their periods start: I was 11 and certainly didn't stop growing then. But looking at DS (15) would agree that major growth spurts occur round about the time of puberty. Am hopeful he will continue growing for a little while yet tho.

I believe it is that boys will be taller than their shortest parent provided they are healthy and have no treatment or genetic conditions that limit their growth etc Of course in most couples it is the mother who is the shortest but not always.

nope. not if they start smoking quite early

dh and his brother are shorter than their father (but their mum is 5' and aunt is about 4'10)

I am shorter than both of my parents.

I thought I'd stopped growing at about 16, but an extra inch crept up on me by the time I was 18.

I was a late stopper too although I still only made it to 5'1", dh stopped growing at 14 - his Mum & sister stopped growing at 11!!!! DD2 is taking after him, she's up to my shoulder already as is only 6 (his family are all really tall)

ive been wondering this too.
me and dh are both 5.2
my mum and my dad are both taller than me.
my dad is 5.6 so i am hoping my 2 boys will be taller than us .
its not nice for a man to be small its more exceptable to be a short woman

Don't know if this is always true about the formula of parents height. My dh is 5' 11", his dad is 5' 1" and is mum is 4' 8" (I would say he was the milkman's if it wasn't for him being his dad's double!).

I'm only 5' 2" and ds is already up to my shoulder at age 6! . We already think he's going to be well taller than his dad. Several of his cousins (dh's siblings children) are now about 6' 2" , so there must be height somewhere in his family!

Standing 5'8" I am slightly tall for a woman. The Father of my 4 sons is 5'9". I have always heard that a man will be taller than his Momma. A short woman can have a tall or short son (but the short son will still be taller than her). A tall woman will 99% of the time have a son much taller than her. The 1% difference is usually caused by some health issues, enviroment, or the 1% fluke. If you look around you will see tall men with short wife and short son. It is believed there is a genetic link in the "Y" chromosones that pass the height gene to the son and the reason why the height comes from the Mom. It is also said that our intelligence is passed from Mother to son too! All four of my sons are 6'4" and one is 6"5". Hubby... not that tall and both of my Grandfathers were less than 5"7". I was concerned about my middle son and afraid he was going to be short when his two younger brothers grew taller than him. At 16 one son had his height, two grew til 18, and my small number two son grew til 21. Looking around at the friends of my sons and people I know I see over and over again that TALL women do create TALL sons!

By the equation above my boys will be 6'5 1/2!

I'm 5ft 2
Dh 6ft 2
Ds 17 is 6ft
Dd 15 5ft 6

I think in our case the equation won't work as I am 6ft1 and dh 5ft8.
Ds however is aged 13 and is already 5ft7. He is however also very advanced regarding puberty (hairy legs and deep voice) so I hope he will grow a bit taller yet... Would love for him to reach 6ft

As an aside, ds's best friend is also 13 and is 6ft 4 already! (His parents are of average height) Gorgeous lad, but wow, so tall!

It can't be that accurate. According to that formula, my sister and I should both be five foot four. I'm five foot two and she's five foot seven!

According to that link, my boys would potentially be 5'10, same as DH (I'm using my height before I shrank). According to their 2 year heights, DS1 is heading for 6' and DS2 5'11. I can well believe it, since they're both on the tall side. DS1 was up to his grandma's eyebrows when they stood together, the other day! He's just turned 9 and looks to be about 4'7 and is in the middle of a huge growth spurt.

It's an average, colditz, and you average just over 5'4 ;)

Of course it's not true always.