Very short for his age

[low-key]

not me, but I know I had a few friends that were always so little then one Fall coming back to school they were tall all of a sudden, growing is a funny thing, I could see where this would bother him but its gonna be ok

 

[macraven]

i have 4 sons and all are different.
2 of them were on the short side thru the beginning of 9th grade.
oldest son was 4' 11" starting high school.
at junior year in high school he shot up to 5' 4".

he didn't get another growth spurt until he was 19 - 20 y/o.
he is now at 5' 10" as an adult.

other one wore 3 T's until second grade.
his height didn't start until beginning of high school.
as an adult, he is 5' 7" now

 

[wenrob]

Opposite here - I have two very tall girls - 11 year old who is already 5'4" and a 6 yr old who is 4'3". What can you do? It's hard the other way, too. I am concerned about them being ridiculed for being too tall. I just let them know how beautiful they are and how lucky they are to be healthy. And I remind MYSELF of that.

I have finally realized that everyone gets picked on. Even if you are average and blend in, they find something to pick on. You can't win with kids.

I was going to mention this, it seems they can't win either way. My oldest nephew has always been a big kid. At eight he looked like he was thirteen. I even had someone once ask me if he was "slow" because they thought he was way older then he was.

My twins are pretty small kids, in third grade but smaller than the second graders though DS is starting to pull ahead of DD in height. We always joke that if they keep upping the weight for car seat recs she'll be in a booster in high school, lol. At nine it doesn't seem to bother them.

My teen DD is barely 5'2. When you look at myself, my mother, sister and grandmother, she kind of saw the writing on the wall. I think it bothered her a little bit as a Freshman but it doesn't seem to now. I'm pretty sure both her siblings will be taller than she is.

DH said he was very short until he was sixteen then suddenly shot up.

All you can really do is build up his self esteem. Everyone grows at a different pace, he'll get there eventually.

 

[IDoDis]

Dd had a friend when she was younger that was the size of a 3 year old when she was 7 years old. The friend topped out at 5' tall. She is in college now. Back then some of us wondered if she was going to be very small her whole life, but she finally had her growth spurt in 10th grade which was about 4-5 years behind her peers. Even though she's short, she's not overly short.

My DS was always taller than his peers until around 9th grade. When he played football I could always spot him easily because his helmet was a head taller than most of the boys. Then many of them passed him up in height. Now he's a sophomore in high school, and is 5'9". Not short, but not tall like we all thought he would be. Hopefully he can grow at least a couple more inches before he tops out. I'm 5'1" and DH is 6'1" so DS will be lucky if he can grow a little more.

OP, your DS will grow, just later than his peers. Is he interested in acting? Smaller but older kids are prime candidates for child acting jobs because they are more mature and smarter, but can pass for a younger child.

 

[minneylovesmicky]

My 18 yr old daughter is exactly 5 foot, she only weighs 50kg...she has tiny feet - size 5 and still fits into clothes I brought her when she was 10...She has always hoped for a late growth spurt, but it never came...At her Graduation formal last yr, she wore 12cm high heel shoes and was still the shortest one there...lol

She has a sweet little face too, so she looks much younger than her 18 yrs of age.....She got mistaken for a 10 yr old going through US Customs on our visit there in February...was hysterical...lol

She also had health problems as a child and didn't grow as per her baby book.

She got mistaken for a kindergarten student when she was in year 3...THAT did not go down well....lol

She finds it so hard to buy clothes/shoes for her age that fit her perfect.


I tell her "God only lets us grow till we reach perfection, Some just reach it faster than others"

Yep. I've got a 45" 39lb 9 year old. Very tiny! She gets picked on, but we just tell her to ignore it. What's do bad about being small?

We are going to put her in some kind of martial arts though. She's got a real nasty bully in her class who actually pushed her not too long ago. I want her to feel confident in sticking up for herself, and if absolutely necessary, be able to kick a bigger kids ***. It's not going to get any easier as she gets older.

Best thing my daughter ever did, was to learn Tae Kwon Do, gave her confidence a huge boost....she started age 5 and had to have a uniform specially made, as they didn't come that small..she got her 1st degree black belt age 9 and again needed the black belt uniform specially made as they didn't come that small...she went on to get her second degree black belt age 11.

 

[E&Cmom]

As a 4'10" 45 year old, I am still short for my age. My 11 year old has just passed me in height. In my case, it is all Genetics. My mom was short like me and my dad definitely was not a tall man. I have very small feature ( small hands and feet). My 8 year old is taking after me. She is definitely the smallest in her grade and probably looks more like she is in grade 1 not 3.

Sure it was a pain growing up at times. People always thought I was younger than I was and even now I often have to hem my pants but it is who I am and even though I often wish I was taller I doesn't make me any less than anyone else and I have no bitterness or resentment about it.

 

[lorevangeel]

We have the exact opposite going on at our house. DD is 7 and in the first grade. She is already 52 inches tall and wears a size 5 women's shoe! I am afraid she is going to be taller than everyone.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. In any case, the boys will always catch up, so she'll be fine

 

[lorevangeel]

Opposite here - I have two very tall girls - 11 year old who is already 5'4" and a 6 yr old who is 4'3". What can you do? It's hard the other way, too. I am concerned about them being ridiculed for being too tall. I just let them know how beautiful they are and how lucky they are to be healthy. And I remind MYSELF of that.

I imagine that being short for a boy is being tall for a girl. On the other hand, as I said above the boys always catch up to the girls when they're teens so they shouldn't worry at all. And tall girls ARE beautiful; so don't need to remind yourself of that In what grade are your girls? Do they stand out a lot now?

 

[bdcp]

Yep. At 18 my DS is 5'2" and appears to have topped out. He's always been short and and has grown very slowly, but I have to admit we all hoped (he most of all) he would end up taller. It could have gone either way - I'm 5' and his DDad is 6'. He routinely is mistaken for a much younger boy, even now that he has a bass-tone voice and sideburns!

He could still grow a few inches. Boys aren't done growing until about age 22. As I said above, my youngest DS grew a couple of inches in college. Actually, my oldest DS who has always been tall for his age (75 percentile his whole life) still grew almost two inches between 18-22.

 

[mefordis]

I imagine that being short for a boy is being tall for a girl. On the other hand, as I said above the boys always catch up to the girls when they're teens so they shouldn't worry at all. And tall girls ARE beautiful; so don't need to remind yourself of that In what grade are your girls? Do they stand out a lot now?

They are 11 and 6 years old. My 6 year old definitely stands out as the tallest. She is in Kindergarten and has a lot of tiny classmates. My 5th grader is seeing girls catch up to her now. The boys are catching up slower than the girls.

I would recommend anyone with smaller kids to try to get them to play soccer. The shorter kids seem to do better than the taller ones in that sport, at least from what I've seen first hand. I could be wrong, but that is what I've witnessed. Any soccer players that can confirm this?

 

[mjkacmom]

Ds17 has always been tall, except for a couple of years when other boys were sprouting. He's now 6'1", 175. Dd14 has always been small. She is now about 5', and almost 80. My other kids are average.

 

[aaarcher86]

My 18 yr old daughter is exactly 5 foot, she only weighs 50kg...she has tiny feet - size 5 and still fits into clothes I brought her when she was 10...She has always hoped for a late growth spurt, but it never came...At her Graduation formal last yr, she wore 12cm high heel shoes and was still the shortest one there...lol

She has a sweet little face too, so she looks much younger than her 18 yrs of age.....She got mistaken for a 10 yr old going through US Customs on our visit there in February...was hysterical...lol

She also had health problems as a child and didn't grow as per her baby book.

She got mistaken for a kindergarten student when she was in year 3...THAT did not go down well....lol

She finds it so hard to buy clothes/shoes for her age that fit her perfect.


I tell her "God only lets us grow till we reach perfection, Some just reach it faster than others"




Best thing my daughter ever did, was to learn Tae Kwon Do, gave her confidence a huge boost....she started age 5 and had to have a uniform specially made, as they didn't come that small..she got her 1st degree black belt age 9 and again needed the black belt uniform specially made as they didn't come that small...she went on to get her second degree black belt age 11.

That's great! She's on the autism spectrum and is kind of reluctant, but I'm hoping she'll enjoy it once she's there. Hopefully she gets the confidence factor your daughter got!

 

[HelenePA]

My kids have 2 brothers who are little. One brother is 13 and in a size 10, the younger brother who's 9 is in a size 6/7. My 9 yr old is in a size 12/14 and my 6 yr old is in a 7/8. I know my kids are on the taller size and are estimated to grow to be about 6' tall. I really do hope their friends have a major late growth spurt other wise I dont even know they'll be as tall as me and I'm only 5'3.

 

[mjkacmom]

That's great! She's on the autism spectrum and is kind of reluctant, but I'm hoping she'll enjoy it once she's there. Hopefully she gets the confidence factor your daughter got!

Martial arts pairs well with special needs. Ds12 could be quite the handful when younger - ADHD poster child. He started TKD at 4, and wow! I didn't recognize him when he was in class, and it did manage to transfer into his daily life. He got up to junior black belt before having to give it up for soccer - just not enough days in the week.

 

[aaarcher86]

Martial arts pairs well with special needs. Ds12 could be quite the handful when younger - ADHD poster child. He started TKD at 4, and wow! I didn't recognize him when he was in class, and it did manage to transfer into his daily life. He got up to junior black belt before having to give it up for soccer - just not enough days in the week.

That would be a dream!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

My son is the same way also. He is now 20 and is between 5'7"-5'8". I think he had his last 1" growth spurt this year. My husband is 5'8" also so he realizes that is the family normal.

One of his best friends started at around 4'10" freshman year. I have the picture. DS is about 4" taller. In senior year this same boy was 6'5". His mother said he had an extremely painful time and it is so weird seeing him so tall. So I guess what I am saying is anything can happen.

Just make sure to do yearly physical at the doctors office and if concerned mention it.

Plus many shorter men have gorgeous taller wives if that is a concern for him.

 

[Sparkly]

I seemed to just stop at 4'11. 21 years old and not even 5 foot tall!! Buying jeans is fun because the legs are very long!

 

[IDoDis]

I seemed to just stop at 4'11. 21 years old and not even 5 foot tall!! Buying jeans is fun because the legs are very long!

Find a good inexpensive seamstress and have your jeans shortened. Places like The Buckle which is a chain store in malls across the country will do this for free when you buy jeans from them.

 

[lauradis]

Feed that boy some protein powder and start him on muscle building.

There is nothing wrong with being short and healthy

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Find a good inexpensive seamstress and have your jeans shortened. Places like The Buckle which is a chain store in malls across the country will do this for free when you buy jeans from them.

REALLY!!! I might have to take dd there! I did not know that. I am going to call them tomorrow. Thanks