"Wow, he's so tall!!"

[soccermama]

My DS is 3 and a few months - he's 39lbs and 41inches tall. He's always been in the 95th percentile for his height and weight. H and I and our family are used to how tall he is - how much taller he is compared to other kids his age. We think it's wonderful that he's a thriving, healthy boy. But when we meet new couples or are at the playground, the reactions on people's faces when I tell them how old he is, is a bit disheartening at times.

Does anyone else have a really above average height toddler? How do you react to the comments? I have been politely nodding along and saying 'yes, he's very tall for his age. We have quite a few tall men in our family', etc.,

[kriket]

nak
the MW told me a lot that DS was big while i was pregnant. i just looked at her like "have you meet my DH and I?" We're huge people!

[GoBecGo]

Um my DD is 1 inch taller than your DS, but about 9lbs lighter! She was 3 on 4/1.

She's a realy good talker so people dn't usually make comments, they just assume she's like 4.5. I only correct them if they make (negative) comments about her behaviour, because no matter how old she looks/sounds, she's ACTUALLY 3. I am notlooking forward to having to carry her birth certificateto "prove" she's young enough to ride for free on the bus like my mama had to do with me...

[Whistler]

My kids are both 95th and 100th percentile for height too and DS is for weight. We're used to the "Wow, he is tall/big/huge for his age!"

What irritates me is that people expect them to be able to DO more than they should be able to. When DD started preschool a little early, she was already almost the tallest in her class. The aide who didn't know her age asked if she was delayed. As a matter of fact she is advanced almost to the point of being gifted, but people just take it as a matter of course when she does something a six year old would do because she is as big as many of them.

I don't mind that they are tall and big although they are hard to carry when they need it. I remember being told that all the time as a kid and since my mom was proud of it, I took it as a compliment.

PP's bus story reminded me of a story me dad tells. He was over six feet tall before he turned twelve and wanted the child's price at the movie theater but they would not believe that he was actually twelve.

[fiorio]

My DS is 4 and has been above the 90th percentile for height since birth. Strangers almost always assume he is older, and I end up having the "yes, he is tall, yes his dad is tall" conversation a lot. People are surprised to find out he's not older, but I've never gotten a rude reaction from anyone. How do people react with your DS, or is it that you just don't like them commenting on his height?

One thing that does bug me is when DS is acting up in public (nothing too bad, just age-appropriate behavior) I will sometimes notice dirty looks since, I assume, strangers think he is too old to be whining, clinging to mama, jumping like a maniac, etc... Luckily DS is too involved in his dramatics to notice the looks, but I do. Grrr...

[Alyantavid]

My youngest is huge. Off the charts huge. People are always shocked when I tell them he's 2 (he'll be 3 in mid-June). He talks pretty well and he's big and people are usually pretty surprised to hear how young he is. We just blow it off. Along with the comments on his hair or how skinny my older son is. People will make comments no matter what.

[eclipse]

I have a teeny one now, but my older two were very tall for their age, particularly dd (and she's still off or at the top of the charts for height, though ds1 is now around he 75th percentile). She was about 42 inches when she had her 3 year check up. She was also an incredibly prolific talker and blended right in with DS's kindy class (she was taller than a couple of kids in his class and would screw up the count on field trips when the teachers were trying to count heads!). Anyhow, I never took the "she so big" comments negatively - just said things like, "yep, she's tall!" I have a harder time with ds2 being so small, since he also has a speech delay and gets treated like a "baby" by kids his own age.

[silkiemum]

My DD1 was 3 in March, and is 43'' tall and 40 lbs. She has a boy haircut (she was a bald baby, and a bald-ish preschooler) and speaks continuously, if not always intelligibly. I always make a point of telling people she's three when we meet at the playground, etc. just to ward off any "Wow, your five year old is kinda slow, eh?" comments. I was a tall child, too, and it was fine until I was taller than all the boys, and then it sucked. Generally, people think tall kids are lucky, and most comments are positive. It makes a change form people telling me "what a cute little boy" I have!

Andrea in NS with two enormous daughters.

[Dar]

My kid was always at the top of or off the charts for both height and weight (although she's only 5'8" now that she's pretty much grown... she just got there early and was a 5 foot tall 8 year old). I remember two women actually arguing with her when she was 20 months or so... they had asked how old she was and she told them that she was one, and they kept trying to tell her that she was three! She stuck to her guns but it was not fun, and when I stepped in and said that yes, she was really one they acted like I had said something offensive.

She actually had a number of experiences with people just refusing to believe how ofld she really was... both adults and children.

One thing I did start doing early on was to make a point of mentioning her age in new situations, as soon as I could work it into the conversation... I think it kept people from making assumptions and feeling stupid, and it also kept them form having inappropriate expectations for her emotional maturity. Well, scratch the second one, because it didn;t really do that very well... maybe a little bit. I always felt bad for her when she was having a playground argument with an older kid and I could tell people thought that *she* was older...

Actually, people still think she's a good bit older than she is. When she started taking university classes at 14 no one realized that she was 4 years younger than the youngest of the other students until 2 months into the class, when the professor had them line up for an activity from youngest to oldest and an 18 year old refused to believe that she was younger than he was.

Sorry this is not much help... but I can commiserate!

[radishes]

My daughter has always been tall for her age and people started asking me why she was out of school when she was close to 4. We home-school (another problem!) I would just smile and say DH is tall (I'm short). I never had to suffer with people thinking she was delayed, but my friend has a child who is 1 1/2, but close to a 3 year old in size, and she stopped taking her to the playground because she felt like a lot of people were treating her daughter like she was delayed, and not in a nice way. Now THAT would piss me off, I'd probably say something if I felt someone was being negative towards my child's size.

[Norasmomma]

I do my DD has always been tall and she also weighs more than most kids her age. She's almost 3 and is always a head taller than girls who are a year older. It has caused me some major problems because people think she's older than she is. I got accosted when she was 18 months because of her screeching, the people thought she was a much older child(who had mental problems.

It gets really frustrating with people judging me based on her look and not knowing her age and behavior is appropriate.

[soccermama]

Originally Posted by fiorio

My DS is 4 and has been above the 90th percentile for height since birth. Strangers almost always assume he is older, and I end up having the "yes, he is tall, yes his dad is tall" conversation a lot. People are surprised to find out he's not older, but I've never gotten a rude reaction from anyone. How do people react with your DS, or is it that you just don't like them commenting on his height?

One thing that does bug me is when DS is acting up in public (nothing too bad, just age-appropriate behavior) I will sometimes notice dirty looks since, I assume, strangers think he is too old to be whining, clinging to mama, jumping like a maniac, etc... Luckily DS is too involved in his dramatics to notice the looks, but I do. Grrr...

The reaction I get some times is sort of like what the pp, Whistler, was talking about. How he looks 4 and can somewhat talk like a 4 year old, but they react like he should be DOING more.
We were at a party on Saturday for the Kentucky Derby - totally family friendly - every couple there brought their kid. My DS is 3, the other little boy was around 18 months and the tiniest was 3 months. The mother of the 18 month old just went on and on about how tall my DS was. Couldn't BELIEVE that he was that tall and did make a comment about 'i guess you get this a lot' and said something else along the lines of he should be doing more. It really irritated me. They didn't comment on how well he can throw a baseball or how goofy he was at playing hide and go seek, but every time DS walked around them, i hear "gosh, I just can't get over how tall he is!". There's more to my DS than his above average height, folks! :

[Snuzzmom]

Originally Posted by soccermama

My DS is 3 and a few months - he's 39lbs and 41inches tall. He's always been in the 95th percentile for his height and weight. H and I and our family are used to how tall he is - how much taller he is compared to other kids his age. We think it's wonderful that he's a thriving, healthy boy. But when we meet new couples or are at the playground, the reactions on people's faces when I tell them how old he is, is a bit disheartening at times.

Does anyone else have a really above average height toddler? How do you react to the comments? I have been politely nodding along and saying 'yes, he's very tall for his age. We have quite a few tall men in our family', etc.,

Whoa! We have the same child!!

DS is 2.5 years and we are constantly have to correct people who think he's 3.5. Even his pediatrician gets his age wrong (another reason why we're switching peds).

DH and I are both short and we have no idea where he gets it.

I don't find it disheartening to explain, though... it usually helps when I do that because people always think he should be more emotionally mature than he is due to his height.

[LynnS6]

Well, my tall kid is 8 now, and we STILL get the comments. "I can't believe how tall he is." Yes, he's in the 95th percentile for height folks. Yes, he goes to school with a lot of kids who are of hispanic descent so he looks taller in comparison (he doesn't look so tall at our church full of people of german-scandinavian-lutheran descent!). But really, he JUST turned 8.

It bugs me because I think even the teachers think he should be doing 'more' than he is, but really he's one of the younger kids in his class.

My mom has a great anecdote of a woman who was watching my mom with my brother (also quite tall - he topped out at 6'4" or so) when my brother was a toddler. He was doing something quite toddler-ish and other people were giving my mom the weird glances. This woman watched my mom and brother and smiled and said "He's not quite 2 yet, isn't he? I've got tall kids too. People always think they should be older."

That was 45 years ago folks, so not much has changed!

[fiorio]

Originally Posted by soccermama

The reaction I get some times is sort of like what the pp, Whistler, was talking about. How he looks 4 and can somewhat talk like a 4 year old, but they react like he should be DOING more.
We were at a party on Saturday for the Kentucky Derby - totally family friendly - every couple there brought their kid. My DS is 3, the other little boy was around 18 months and the tiniest was 3 months. The mother of the 18 month old just went on and on about how tall my DS was. Couldn't BELIEVE that he was that tall and did make a comment about 'i guess you get this a lot' and said something else along the lines of he should be doing more. It really irritated me. They didn't comment on how well he can throw a baseball or how goofy he was at playing hide and go seek, but every time DS walked around them, i hear "gosh, I just can't get over how tall he is!". There's more to my DS than his above average height, folks! :

Oh, that would drive me crazy. Thinking back I guess I did have to deal with that when DS was younger. He was on the slow end of speech development (still "normal" though) and I did get some comments and looks. It would be especially bad when we were with friends whose same age DD was half DS's size and speaking in sentences!!

[heidirk]

yes, my ds1 has always been 95th percentile or above for height. He's also very strong and agile physically, so he can keep up with 4-6 yo's at the playground but doesn't have their social skills, or their vocabulary. He'll be three in less than a month. I always get, 'oh, he's a tall boy!' which I don't mind, since it seems people are helpless to avoid stating the obvious, but this was the real steamer. . .

Me in checkout at grocery. . . "Hen can you say thank-you (I signed it, too) for the sticker?"

ds- signs "thank-you" and then hides in my shirt

checkout girl, "Oh, does he have problems talking?"

me- "he's 18 months old."


We do the whole, "Yes, we have very tall people on both sides of our family, poor kid didn't have a chance!"


Honestly I think it would be worse for him if he was a girl. I remember my father assuring the people at the buffet that I was really only 12- I looked at least 16, boobs and all.

[Irishmommy]

And here's your obligatory other side of the coin.

Dd2 will be 9 in July. She's about 1/2 an inch under 4 feet tall. Every single day she gets comments on how tiny she is. It's driving us both nuts. Well, it's driving me nuts, it's beginning to give her a complex, especially when it's now becoming a problem with her sports (where reach is a huge advantage). It's too the point where we are getting it looked at (she hasn't grown in almost 3 years).

[savannah smiles]

My older dd has always been very tall, typically 97th percentile. She's always the tallest kid in her class (be it school, dance, whatever) but as she gets older, the comments have slowed a bit. One funny thing that happened recently had to do with an afterschool art program I had her in. One room was for K-2nd grade while the room across the hall was for 3rd-5th grades. When I went to pick her up the first day, she wasn't in "her" class (she's in first grade) and I briefly panicked until I looked in the room across the hall and saw her sitting with the older kids. The ladies who run the program just assumed she was in that age group due to her size. She liked being in there so that's where she stayed for the rest of the session.

My 2nd dd was always pretty average until the last year or so but now she's starting to get height comments. *sigh*

[Sasharna]

My DS1 has always been in the 95th percentile for height. I don't really understand where those numbers come from though. Are they even up to date? He doesn't seem any bigger than most kids his age. Maybe I just live in a region where tall people predominate? Or the nurse keeps measuring him wrong.

[EnviroBecca]

My son is tall but not really really tall; he's been 80th-90th percentile. People often think he's a year or so older than he is.

When he was about 18 months, we were at a playground and a boy about 3 years old but the same height bounded up to him saying, "Wanna play pirates with us?" EnviroKid responded with babble. The boy looked horrified and gasped, "Why, you're just a...a TALL BABY!"

My mom had a similar experience to Whistler's dad: She went to the movies with her cousin who was 12 and about 5 feet; my mom was 11 and 5'10". The cashier insisted my mom was no younger than 14 and made her pay adult price. Her cousin then asked for an under-12 ticket and got it with no trouble. : They had quite an argument before her cousin agreed to give my mom the extra money!