Boys are so much fun! You've got a busy household there, lots going on!

I only have boys - 2 of them that fortunately actually reached their mid-20's and are now 25 and 27, with an age difference of 21 months. Life used to be a competition but they have finally figured out that interest-wise, sports-wise and career-wise they are very different and the competitiveness has waned. They have each others backs and are each others biggest supporters, of that there is doubt.

Between their kamikaze skiing and mountain biking, mountain hiking, throwing themselves all over the frisbee field and wandering the world they are both still in one piece. Boys are fun, weird but fun.

When my son and daughter#1 were 14 and 12, respectively, I noticed at the semi-annual height-recording-on-the-pantry-wall, that they were even (5'4"), although daughter is 2 years younger. Talk about a boy that was bummed--and I felt for him.

From that point, she grew another 4".

He grew another 11".

Tell DS#1 there's still hope. :)

You should not have blamed your oldest son for the fact that he will be shorter than his brother. It could be genetics and something that he has no control over.

I agree with LucyStar1. I think any sort of blaming for height/hair color/hair amount, etc., is actually kind of cruel. My husband is two years older than his brother, yet 7" shorter (his brother is the family anomaly - everyone else is under 5' 10").

I was told all my life I'd be over 6' tall because my mother was 5' 11". I hated being told that, and fretted daily about being that tall - because she HATED her height and was made to feel a freak over it - and was blamed for it, for drinking too much milk, etc. I stopped growing at 5' 7" and still feel like a super-tall freak.

NEVER make fun of your kids - even if you're joking - because it causes lifelong scars.

LucyStar1 & imstillchloecat It's a joke we have in the family. He's mature enough to get sarcasm. We are a very joking around type of family. I think it really depends on the type of family you grow up in. We're very open and my boys talk about the majority of the stuff going on in their life good and bad. I read my son your comment and he just laughed. Don't worry about him, he'll be a-ok. He's an intelligent and articulate kid that will be just fine no matter how tall he is. We have all ranges of height in our family. I'm only 5'3" and don't feel like a super short freak. My youngest brother is 6'3". I have several uncles that are over 6' tall and two cousins that are very tall at 6'7" and 6'9". In all likelihood my oldest will be pretty close to 6' tall which is not short. The shortest man in our family is 5'10". I'll just keep doing what I'm doing with my kids because it's obviously working so far that they feel comfortable enough with me as teenagers to talk about girls and kids that are getting suspending in school for drugs, to ask me advice on things. Thank you for your concern but after reading the comments to my son and him laughing, I truly don't think you need to feel concerned for him.

I am 5'1", and my husband is 6'1". My boys always blamed their height on me. Oldest was about 5'9", next is 5'10", youngest is 5'9". Sorry, guys, I did my best!

I have 3 sons, now ages 43, 38, & 27. All are over 6 ft. , my husband was 5'8. The 27 yr old is the tallest, then the 43 yr old, and then the 38 yr old.

sudiepav If their height is all they blame you for I think you did pretty well as a parent. LOL

My mom is 5'0. She's the shortest in her large immediate family. I think her shortest sister is about 5'5 or 5'6 and brothers are all over 6'0. My grandma is about 5'8" (or was before shrinkage) and I can't remember my grandfather's height but he was over 6' tall. My mom's paternal grandmother was said to be short. I can't remember exact height, will have to ask my mom again. I think it was a little under 5'. Mom's paternal grandfather was 7' (must have been some pituitary issues there) and died at age 41 of cardio vascular renal disease. Her grandma had 5 still births and have to wonder if that height difference could have been why. My one brother takes after my dad's side, build and all. The other brother is built just like my mom's side of the family. My kids are like that too. The first two look so different and the youngest is a combo of the two for looks.

sudiepav-When my son complains about his lesser traits, I remind him his parents also gave him those cute freckles (me), good teeth (HIM!), intelligence (us ;) ... The boy just laughs. Gotta take the bad with the good!

we have a set of grands like that only the oldest is the taller..she takes after my ds (he's 6'3') and her sister takes after her mom who is barely 5' 3"...but the younger is scrappy and can hold her own on the soccer field with her sister...

I've forgotten the age at which you can supposedly take a child's height and double it for an estimation of adult height. Two? Two and a half?

My younger son is four inches taller than my older son. They are both adults. They are about as different as two people can be, in every way. It's all a toss of the genetic dice!

I agree that parents should never make any negative comments/jokes about their children's physical attributes. My dad used to make what he thought were funny comments about "mosquito bites" on my chest when I was about 12. In front of my brothers. I remain very self-conscious about my chest even now. I'm 60.

I want to preface what I am about to say with that it is coming from a place of heartfelt concern. I know sometimes messages can read rudely so know that that is not my intent. I feel like if as a child someone made negative remarks about your appearance in any capacity and you are still carrying that, you should consider getting counseling. It would allow you to release that and move on. I was in counseling at age 19 (not for remarks about my appearance) and it was a major turning point in my life. I would highly recommend it. I got jokes about being short my whole life and it hasn't affected me in any capacity. It is what it is. I'm short, so what? It doesn't change my life, I am responsible for how I feel not anyone else. Life has serious moments, but life as a whole isn't serious. Love, laugh and realize that nobody is perfect, everyone has something. I have an unsymmetrical nose, it's far from perfect, but I'm not self conscious about it. I wouldn't dare "fix" it.

While you all are entitled to an opinion on how people raise their children, just know that so am I. I don't believe we should shield our children in bubbles. If my son had real anxiety about his height that's one thing, but he doesn't. He's annoyed because he's the oldest and he's a very driven kid. He doesn't think he's going to stay 5'6" forever. He also knows that his paternal grandfather grew 12" just a few years before adulthood. He's the oldest, he just want to feel like the oldest. Perhaps it's that we aren't people who get hurt by little things. We've had big issues to deal with in our family. My children aren't shielded from those big issues, like having an uncle who has schizophrenia and is un-medicated. They get to actually learn about the illness and develop empathy for people who are in the same position as their uncle. Learning to have a sense of humor about things we can not change is a huge positive life skill. If you dwell on the negative you're only harming yourself.

Editing to add that I'd like to make it clear that we don't go out of our way to say comments to him and all we've said is when he comments on his brother's height is about the protein. I've never said anything in a disparaging way to my children and want to make that clear.

I ended up being the shortest of four children, and both my daughters "outgrew" me as young teens. Even today, I lie about my height. I am actually five feet one inch but I tell DMV amd doctors I am five-two.

LOL Vicgirl, don't they have the height measurement thing right there? My youngest is pretty close to passing me as well. It's kind of a given that if you have all boys at some point you're going to be the shortest again when you're short. LOL

I have girls, too, and I'm still the shortest (used to be 5'7"). My youngest child was thrilled when she looked at me and realized that she was no longer the shortest in the family.

I have a sister who is 5'4", and whose x-husband is 6'6". Their daughter is 5'2"--she outweighed all my kids at birth, and we were all expecting her to be much taller. You never know.

You never know! I agree.

When people kid my son about being short (he and his two bestest friends ever, called themselves the midget squad all last marching season. Now there are smaller freshmen), I would ask him would it matter if he never grows? He says no. I think people do place too much emphasis on height. What was really funny was when they ended up having a formation that put the tallest band member next to him on the field. I could always find him in that one! Once, when we were on buses, the tallest band member got in "trouble" with the driver for standing up. He said I am sitting down! and the chaperone took up for him. I had to laugh because I have a friend whose favorite joke about herself was, I am standing up! She is diminutive. We gotta laugh at ourselves in this crazy world.

Rob333 - I used to like to say that I wasn't short, just vertically challenged. Other than my 5 ft tall mother, I am the shortest on both sides of my large family. All my siblings and cousins are taller. One thing about being short that is fantastic is making other people do things for you. "Oh hey, I can't reach that, could you get me that glass from the top shelf?"

I expect my son to tower over me at some point. My mom was 5'8" (now she's 5'4", talk about shrinking!), my dad is 6'1". My son's father is 6'0". His father's father was 6'3". my mom's father was 6'4"... I'm the only short one, and I am not short! I'm average 5'4". My brother gave me a car because he'd modified it for his vertically challenged (he used that term. funny you have!) friend, and took it back because his one stipulation, they didn't follow it. He said, since you're vertically challenged, maybe you can use it. It's about to be my midget squad boy's car.

Having been short (~4'9") until I hit my mid-teens, I prefer the perfectly average 5'4" height any day! I had two growth spurts (4'9' to 5'4" summer between 7th and 8th grade; 5'4" - 5'9" summer between 9th and 10th grade). Don't start me on finding pants with a 36" inseam. Yeah, I can reach stuff and yeah, those extra pounds have further to travel but being tall is no picnic. I'm not really that tall but I have good posture so I look taller.

My son was 5'4" as a freshman in high school. He wished he was taller. Well, the summer between 9th and 10th grade, he grew 10 inches. Grew a few more after high school and is now 6'7".

When he got glasses at 10 years old, the technician fitting him for glasses remarked that he would be a tall one. When asked how she could tell, she mentioned something about how far apart the pupils were (something with the eyes) and that he would be about 6'4". She wasn't far off!

My one cousin used to pound his younger brother, like many older brothers do. (I never had that problem. From about the time I was age three I was bigger than my older brother!) Anyway the younger cousin used to say "You just wait until I'M big and YOU'RE little! THEN you'll be sorry!" All the relatives would LAUGH and have a great time passing that story on to everyone they knew. Well... (as if I need to finish the story but for those who just haven't caught on yet...) the younger brother grew and pre-teen caught up easily. Today the younger is about 6'4" and the older is about 5'9'. Needless to say, he gets a lot more respect from his brother!