Comments on son’s height

[teethsparkle]

DS 11 is very tall for his age at 5”5. He is also very conscious of it. Am sick of the constant comments by other parents, children and even every medical appointment he goes to, from health professionals. One actually commented on his ‘gangly legs’. I’m at the point of lashing out and saying ‘stop commenting on his height’ but really worried that doing it in front of him is embarrassing or I look like an idiot saying it and making it a bigger issue. I don’t think anyone should comment on a child’s body but people seem to think it’s ok. WWYD?

I think my son is fairly small. 7.5 years and 122cm. You are what you are at the end of the day but making comments about something someone can't change is shitty

Look I'm 5 foot 3 and get comments. People are weird

Sorry I killed the thread !

My husband was 6ft 7 and always said it was exactly the same as if he said someone was fat of which he would have got a load of abuse. Perhaps point this out to people. My son gets it now as he’s shorter than his friends so I’d also say perhaps it’s just one of those things you have to deal with.

DD gets this a lot too, she’s just turned 11 this week and is 5ft 2 with size 7 feet and regularly asked what we’re feeding her, if she sleeps with her feet in miracle gro and such like. So far it doesn’t seem to overly bother her but there are definitely days when she finds it more annoying.

I get it can be annoying to always get the same jokes about how's weather up there, but saying someone is tall is not the same as commenting how fat someone is. Being tall is generally seen as a positive thing, especially for men. Beig fat certainly isn't. So one is generally a compliment while the other is an insult.

Yes I agree, my almost teen ds is short and receives endless comments about his height, or lack of from everybody. Even a teacher made a joke once about his height. His sister was taller at the same age which she's constantly reminding him of. I really hope my ds has a huge growth spurt and ends up taller than the lot of them as I'm fed of the comments myself. Then we can say "told you so" when puberty kicks in and he grows which will happen.

My 3 year old is already 112cm, she'll be 4 in July. She's so much taller than all of her nursery classmates and in 5-6 years clothes but she's so skinny so everything falls down. Her dad is 6ft and I'm 5ft6 but my dad is 6ft4 so I'm assuming she's taking after him.

Thanks but constantly hearing hows the weather up there is not a compliment or a positive thing and it really upsets alot of people. So for those experiencing it, it is as insulting as being called fat. People just don’t understand it who have never been there.

So for those experiencing it, it is as insulting as being called fat.
It really isn't.
Most people who are 'fat' could probably do something about it, should they wish to, but your height can't be changed.

My response would be something like 'Why are you telling me this?'

I have a 3 year old daughter and she constantly gets comments about how tall she is. It’s really annoying

With the 'fat' comments, they are often not true, or are made by someone who is not exactly slim themselves.
'What's the weather like up there?' comments are made by rude, unimaginative people.

As a parent, encourage resilience in your child.

I was 5ft6 at the same age. (5ft7 and 12 and eventually a smidgen below 5ft 9.)

Mum used to get "Has she not stopped growing yet?" We just ignored it.

I think if it happened to a child of mine, I'd smile sweetly and say "Well, some children are more advanced than others."

In private, I'd be having a words with them.

I agree with those who say that being mistaken for being much older is a problem. There are additional problems if you're a girl. Being perved upon by a grown man is frightening when you're only 11 or 12.

Why do you think he might end up being 6”3-6”5 when neither you or your husband are taller than 5’’11

Some people really do look for things to get annoyed about

Just early growth maybe looking at your and DHs height ? DS1 was the same height at same age and is now almost 6ft2 . I’m the same height as you but was 5ft8 at 13 . DS1 is 16 but has hardly grown in the last couple of years - though he has filled out - he had the gangly legs too . It’s just a gradual process and a lot of his friends will catch him up .

They are just pervs using height as an excuse , just looking at young people’s faces you can see that they are younger . DS was over 6ft before 13 but there was no way you couldn’t tell how young he was . I fully get where you are coming from though having been tall whilst still young and getting the unwanted attention

You're right, of course.

One of the times that I was really frightened, however, the catcalls came from behind me. Mind you, I was wearing a pink sailor dress - nothing 'sexy' at all...Doesn't take much for some men, I guess.

Once, a fat bearded man lunged at me whilst I waiting outside a phone booth whilst Mum phoned her sister. (This would have been the very early '70s and we didn't have a phone.)

His pal laughed when I screamed and tried to get into the booth with my mum. Once I was older and understood fully, I wished them both 'orribly twisted testicles.

ISTR that there's some formula whereby you look at a child's height at age 3 and work it out from there.

A child is usually taller than the shorter parent, in this case, the mother. The child may well have inherited the height gene from the mother's side, and men, in general, are taller than women.

Yeah but the shorter parent is 5’’10 and the taller one 5’’11, she hasn’t said why she thinks the child will be 6’’3 to 6’’ 5

I've given you an answer, @Someone2025 . It sounds a realistic estimate, and time will tell.

I did not pose the initial question to you!!!

It was posed to the OP, I wanted her view on it as there may be some background to it, you couldn’t possibly know why she said she expects her child to be 4-6 inches taller than her husband who is the taller parent!!

I would agree with him ending up 6’3 to 6’5 ish maybe, definitely more than 5’11. From what I’ve seen boys normally end up growing about another 5-7 inches once their voice breaks so unless he hits puberty very soon, he’s going to be more than 6 foot.