How are my children tall with short-ish parents?

[Emmie12345]

Ds - 16 and 2 months , 6.2
Dd - 11 and 8 months , 5.4

Me and their dad are both quite short - me 5.6 and Dad 5.8

How can this be ??

I'm 5'6" DC's dad 5'10"ish from memory
DS (20) 6'2" size 11 feet, always tall for age massive growth spurt at 13
DD(18) 5'10" size 8 feet, average size at primary (discounting prematurity as caught up size wise pre 12 months, born 8 weeks early) steady teenage growth to current height
Grandfather on my dads side was 6'6", my uncle on that side is 6'4' but my dad only 5'8"
I do believe height is something that is genetic but skips generations

@ChelseeDagger

Its strange.

My parents are 5'2 and 5'10.
I'm 5'9, so only an inch shorter than my father.
I should reasonably be approx 5'4

Out of interest how tall are the men on your mother's side?

My husband is the giant child of his family. His parents are both well under 5ft 6in and he is 6ft 2in with size 14 feet. I have no idea where it comes from as he is head and shoulders above his entire extended family too. Mind you my side breed them tall too although not quite to that extreme!!

Haha loving this thread !

Are you sure he wasn't standing on tip toes when you measured him ?

My mums brothers are 5'3-5'7. Her dad was around 5'5.

My dad's gradfather was 6'6 though, he just didn't pass his tall genes on to him.

I'm 5"5 my dc dad is 5"8
Dd is 5"10 Ds is 6"3
No tall ish people in our family either side so no idea where their height has come from

Same here. One 6/3 and the other 6ft (the one born on the 2nd percentile).

Haha yes @LizzieMacQueen cos he is nearly as tall as my dp, who is 6.4 (unless he has put blocks in his shoes or something !)

@Dinky2004wow !

DS1 (17) is 6ft 2. His Dad and I are both 5ft 7

DS2 (11) has a different dad. DH is 6ft and DS is 5ft 6 - so quite a lot taller than average

I think both boys are tall because I'm tall for a woman

My dad has 4 average height brothers and he himself is more than a head taller than all of them. His parents were also pretty average. Middle son, same diet as the rest of them. No idea why he is so much taller. He did pass it on to us though, both my brother and me are taller than average (mum was tiny). All our cousins are average height. Must be some genetic variation or something.

@Anotherdayanother2

Question for those with tall boys, were they tall at a young age or did they have a growth spurt in late teens?

I'm really short at 5'2 and hoping little 12 yr old DS has a growth spurt as his dad is 6'2.

Both of my boys have always been tall - above the 91st centile. DS2 is now so tall he's off the chart . He's grown early though so I think he'll even out eventually

This came up a few years ago, people cleverer than me said it's because they are second generation children of non smokers. They had evidence for it and everything. I think nutrition comes into it as well, it's like genetics x nutrition x better start = optimum height.

Hmm interesting , I'm 5'8 and OH is 5'11
my 12 year old DD is around 5'3 /5'4 and I always assumed she would end up taller than me , but a quick google says girls will normally only grow 1-2 more inches after starting their periods so looks like 5'5/5'6 might be the tallest she gets!

@Anotherdayanother2

Question for those with tall boys, were they tall at a young age or did they have a growth spurt in late teens?

Not my son, but my brother. I was always tall (6'1 by 14yo, topped out at 6'3). My brother was always just a bit taller than average - until he hit 16yo, then grew 6 inches in 18mo. He's 6'5.

My ds is only just 5yo, but is already 3'11. Projected to be at last 6'3, maybe more. No surprise, given my height and DH's (6'4).

Better nutrition.

cos dh is on short side for a man

He's one inch below average height, that's nothing.

Height is controlled by a number of genes so when your sons got a random selection from both parents at fertilisation the number of possible combinations is large.

Diet in childhood is a big factor. Not just breast feeding but the right vitamins and minerals (particularly calcium) and plentiful carbs and protein. Average height in Japan has increased hugely in just two generations for this reason.

Yes - the human race is growing bigger and taller basically !

I often think this about DH - his mum is 5'2, his dad 5'8 and he's 6'2. But his mum's brother is also over 6 feet, so I think there are tall genes coming from there - as others have said, there'll be some dormant genes in the family tree somewhere, plus at 5'6 you're definitely above average yourself!

DH was also really small as a child and had a very late growth spurt - there's a picture of him on GCSE results day with him shorter than all the boys and most of the girls. My whole family are very average in height and DS is only 2 so a bit early to tell where he'll end up, but he's on the short side at the moment.

I have the complete opposite. Im 5'9, DH 6,3 and dd 5ft 3 at 14. Don't think she will grow anymore. DS also smaller than average although still only 8. I worry I don't feed them properly. Its wierd. small great grandparents on DH's side -thats all!!

@Constanttaxiservice it’s so weird I do not understand !

We have no talk parents , exdh paternal grandmother was tall for a woman in those days maybe 5.8 or 9 ...

Tall not talk !

My mum is 5.5, my dad was 5.10 max

Exdh parents same prob

Recessive genes.
More protein in diet.
A combination of both.
They're not your children.

Pick one.

@Lweji both swapped at birth !