Kids keep getting BIGGER!!!

2102 Views 48 Replies 39 Participants Last post by Dar, Apr 14, 2006

LunaMom

Discussion Starter · Apr 6, 2006

Oh my goodness, what is up with kids these days? They all look so big for their age. Is it just me, or are kids getting bigger and bigger?

I used to teach public school, and when I taught sixth grade (seven years ago) a handful of the kids were taller than me - I'm only about 5'2" or maybe a little under that. Well, I've been substitute teaching in my local district and the other day I went to pick up a fifth grade class in the cafeteria and I thought I accidentally stumbled into a high school. I swear at least half the kids were way taller than me, and a lot of them looked about fourteen. These were FIFTH graders, many of whom were ten years old!

I won't even address the obesity epidemic, though I notice that, too - when I taught full time almost all the kids were at a reasonable weight, with maybe one slightly chunky kid and usually no kids who were seriously overweight, or maybe one on the whole grade. Now I go into classrooms and at least five kids in every class look like they have serious weight issues.

But it was really the height and physical maturity that struck me the other day. Is it the meat and the milk???

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charmander

· #2 · Apr 7, 2006

I was just going to respond - before I even got to the bottom of your post - that it probably has to do something with the growth hormones in milk and meat.

I know puberty is getting earlier and earlier for American girls. Scary!

mamawanabe

· #3 · Apr 7, 2006

Someone told me about her friend from Europe who is amazed of all the super-sized babies we have over here. She (euorpean friend) believes it is because of the mega-dose prenatal vitamins we take (have you read the dosages - I know RDA isn't "right," but 5000% RDA is crazy).

She thinks there is a correlation between US prenatal vitamins and US C-sections rates.

JamesMama

· #4 · Apr 7, 2006

I agree, it's the unnatural amount of growth hormones in beef, which is why when James gets to eating more meat I will pay the $3 extra and buy organic. We already buy organic milk and organic beef once in a while.

I agree they are getting bigger though, my DH's cousin is 12 years old and is almost 6ft tall! DH's brother is 13 and weighs 195lbs...he's only ~5 feet tall.

StephandOwen

· #5 · Apr 7, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by LunaMom
Is it the meat and the milk???

That would explain why my son isn't as big as others his age

He refuses to eat meat and drink milk (only mommy's milk will do

).

As for the prenatal vitamins and big babies... doesn't hold up in my case. DS was fairly big (almost 9 pounds) but I very rarely took my prenatals. I would guess less than 5 times did I actually take them. (But I'll blame it on like mommy like son since I was almost 10 pounds when I was born

).

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MaryJaneLouise

· #6 · Apr 7, 2006

It's the milk, meat and over-nutrition (caloric) in general

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Dar

· #7 · Apr 7, 2006

This sounds like people think kids being big is a bad thing, and as the mom of a big kid that bothers me. My daughter (who was 5 feet tall on her 9th birthday and was 5' 6" at 12) has been vegetarian since at age 6, with a year or two of occasionally eating meat at 9 and 10. We drink bgh-free milk, when we drink milk. We almost never eat red meat, and we rarely take vitamins. Heaight-wise, she's following the same pattern I followed 25 years ago (weight-wise, she takes after her father's side.)

Maybe the problem was that many of us weren't getting sufficient nurtrition twenty or thirty years ago, and kids today are getting sufficient nutration and thus are reaching their maximum potential heights. Maybe previous generations were stunted. Why is being taller (again, not addressing the obesity thing) bad?

dar

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LunaMom

Discussion Starter · #8 · Apr 7, 2006

Dar, I'm sorry you took it that way. I really was just surprised at the height of the ten-year-olds I saw. I never meant to imply that it was bad to be tall for your age - I was just remarking that the average height of kids seems to have increased tremendously.

I know that tall kids and their parents have some troubles related to their height - my nephew at age 3 looked about five, and people often thought there was something wrong with him.

As far as meat and milk go, we almost always buy organic meat, and even though DD doesn't drink cow's milk, she does eat cheese and yogurt - I wonder if I should buy those organic, too? Actually, the Stonyfield yogurt is organic, isn't it? What about cheeses?

AmyAngel

· #9 · Apr 7, 2006

I think the "getting bigger and taller" thing has been happening for a VERY long time. (Though I've recently seen some kids who are much taller than I would have expected for their age, but not a lot of them.)

Think about it - many of the early ancestors of humans are quite short. Visit a home from over 100 years ago with the original furniture - the beds are pretty short, compared to today! The Mayan ruins in Tulum have pretty short door openings, the people were shorter. I just think that in general we've been getting taller over the generations for a long time - though it may be increasing over the past generation or two.

I'm sure there must be SOME correlation to growth hormones and what have you, but I think there is some just plain evolving going on also. Maybe due in part to IMPROVING nutrition in the past century or so. Also, there seems to be a preference for tallness, especially in men (thinking of my mom "wishing we'd got some of the Smith height" as the women in her family including us are all pretty short). I read an article that stated some sperm banks don't allow donors under 5'9" or so (no idea where they got the stat), because clients prefer tall donors. If more tall people are reproducing, the kids will be taller.

I think it is a combination of many factors.

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moonshine

· #10 · Apr 7, 2006

Hmm, yea, I would have to think that genetics has a great deal to do with it. My kids tend towards being small, so far anyway, and DH is not big, nor does he come from big people. I don't consider myself small, exactly (5'6"), but both my parents are small. Pretty much for all the kids we know, they very much follow their parents size, i.e. the big kids have big parents, and vice versa.

I am sure improved nutrition, abundance, etc has something to do with it too.

Brigianna

· #11 · Apr 7, 2006

I agree that it's an evolutionary thing. Statistically taller people have higher incomes and an overall better chance for worldly success. And tall people breed with other tall people, etc.

But I don't doubt that the massive growth hormones help the natural selection trends along.

I have a different theory about girls reaching puberty earlier though--that I think is psychological.

TiredX2

· #12 · Apr 7, 2006

Slightly Off Topic

Quote:

Originally Posted by LunaMom
As far as meat and milk go, we almost always buy organic meat, and even though DD doesn't drink cow's milk, she does eat cheese and yogurt - I wonder if I should buy those organic, too? Actually, the Stonyfield yogurt is organic, isn't it? What about cheeses?

The stonyfield we get is organic.

I insist on organic dairy (cheese, butter, yogurt) because the fat is where all the "bad" things are stored. For us, that makes organic fat free milk a little less impt (we do get organic, but I don't mind the bgh-free local dairy) than the more fatty dairy products.

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Jade2561

· #13 · Apr 7, 2006

My body missed that memo - I am only 5 feet tall. It is amazing because I have seen elementary school children bigger than me, but I guess thats not saying much. I think it has a lot to do with growth hormones, however I wonder if genetic determine how they affect the body.

RoadBuddy

· #14 · Apr 7, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brigianna
I have a different theory about girls reaching puberty earlier though--that I think is psychological.

Psycological? I'm intrigued...can you elaborate?

Alana

· #15 · Apr 7, 2006

Well...Im just from a tall family. My grandmother was 6'1", mom is the same....my "little" brother is 6'10"...he is 20yo. Im second shortest in my family at 5'10"...my short sister, who is 5'4" had her period at the earliest age. I guess I too, am feeling a bit miffed about talk of tall kids like its bad. My 5yo is very tall....he is the same size as many 8yo, my 4yo is the size of most 6yo, and my 2yo is the size most 3-4yo's. My kids are tall, and healthy....and it is a sore spot for me, because people look at them, assume they are older than they are, and expect them to behave like an older child. My brother has dyslexia, and had a speech impediment when he was little, in elementary school he was harassed badly, and referred to as "the big dummy" Thankfully he pushed past all that, and is now a b-ball player on full scholarship at an Atlantic 10 school.

My dc were vegan for a couple years too, and dont eat meat or dairy with hormones. I honestly think people are taller now than in the past because of better availability of food and nutrition.

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RubyWild

· #16 · Apr 7, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by LunaMom
Oh my goodness, what is up with kids these days? They all look so big for their age. Is it just me, or are kids getting bigger and bigger?

I used to teach public school, and when I taught sixth grade (seven years ago) a handful of the kids were taller than me - I'm only about 5'2" or maybe a little under that. Well, I've been substitute teaching in my local district and the other day I went to pick up a fifth grade class in the cafeteria and I thought I accidentally stumbled into a high school. I swear at least half the kids were way taller than me, and a lot of them looked about fourteen. These were FIFTH graders, many of whom were ten years old!

I was 5'4" tall in fifth grade, only 1.75 inches less than my final height. I never felt that I was taller than the other kids. I was always average in height, still am.

Have you measured yourself lately? Maybe you've shrunk?

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RubyWild

· #17 · Apr 7, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alana
My dc were vegan for a couple years too, and dont eat meat or dairy with hormones. I honestly think people are taller now than in the past because of better availability of food and nutrition.

Better nutrition nowadays as opposed to the 70s when the vast majority of Americans ate home cooked meals, complete with vegetables?

Alana

· #18 · Apr 7, 2006

Talking about the past past...I dont consider the 70's to be the distant past. Maybe my family descended from some Amazon woman tribe (haha)....we have been tall for as far back as anyone can remember....great great great grandparents were 6 ft too.

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rouserstrousers

· #19 · Apr 7, 2006

Dito,
As a mom of tall and big kids I'm rather offended as well. We are a mostly 90% or more vegetarian family. My kids drink organic milk and when I can offord it I buy raw goat's milk from a local farm. My children have been ranging from 8 lbs 14.5 oz at birth to 10 lbs 12.5 oz. All natural births and one homebirth. I think that some children are just bigger than others.

( I'm not discounting that I do believe there is a major link between periods and growth hormones and that in general children are bigger than they used to be, I don't think it's *always* the meat and hormone laced milks.)

QueenOfThePride

· #20 · Apr 7, 2006

Growth hormones cannot make anyone taller than thier genetic potential. It will make them grow faster, increase appetite, and put on more weight, but it cannot make a person or an animal be bigger than their genetic potential. I was part of a discussion between a cow vet and a cow farmer, when the cow farmer asked about growing bigger cows.

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