Short kids

My daughter from Guatemala is 4'10". She is 16 and a star basketball player in high school in addition to an amazing catcher for softball. Sure, she gets comments about how short she is, but mostly friendly. I have taught her to love her short stature and use it to her advantage. She is one of the leading rebounders in basketball because she is quick and has taught herself to jump. I forget that she is short until someone mentions it. I tell her she'll never have a problem picking a guy that is tall enough! Lisa, mom to 5.....

I've thought about this a lot too, since my son is very tiny for his age -- he's 2 years old and he weighs 20 pounds and is 30 inches tall. His pediatrician wants us to have him tested for human growth hormone deficiency but we're going to try and hold off for a bit. The endocrinologist she refered us to thinks it's unlikely anyway -- although she does think we should test him just in case, since he's so small. I know it would be easier for a boy, especially, to be taller, but I don't think there's much that can be done. Some people are just shorter than others. I'm not as bothered by it as my son's pediatrician (who keeps pointing out that he's below the charts, etc.) -- probably because I was always the shortest kid in my class (I never came past anyone's shoulder) all through school and come from a long line of short people. I figure if he'd been born to me instead of being adopted he'd probably be just as short (if not shorter -- my mom says I was smaller than him at that age & I didn't spend my first year in a Vietnamese orphanage). I don't know what it will be like for him as he gets older, if he stays short, but I figure we'll send him to karate lessons to help him feel he can handle himself if anybody tries to bully him and we'll do our best to let him know that there are plenty of accomplished small people (Napoleon, for instance) and plenty of tall people who are total losers. There are plenty of short boys in the school where I work and they are not, as a rule, the targets of bullies or teased, etc. any more than taller kids are. It really has to do with a feeling of self-confidence -- if a kid projects self-confidence and stands up for himself (verbally or physically) and is able to make friends with others he doesn't get habitually picked on.

I totally get where you are coming from, but it's odd because my daughter is not adopted and she's itty bitty. She's missing three of the four chambers of her heart and has some other health issues. Post-operatively she looks very healthy, except that she's so tiny. She was 11 pounds at a year and a half. Now she will be four next Saturday and she's still tiny. There was a two and a half year old yesterday that was A HEAD taller than her! I was a teacher and know that kids will pick on ANY kid for ANY reason. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Lots of love and reassuring words to boost healthy self confidence does wonders. We are what we are. Some will be taller~ some smaller. In the end, love and support has gotten us through some tough times at this house, so I am hoping my little angel knows that her size is the least of her issues. ;)

There are no "short" girls -- only "petite" girls!Seriously, both my girls "topped out" at about 5'1" if they stretched and they both were well accepted (cheerleaders, etc.). Later in life, they both chose life partners who were big, tall guys. Spiderman and Pink Dancer are going to be average American sizes!