Are you taller than your same-sex parent? Are your kids taller than you?

[Connonym]

My family seems to totally be bucking the evolutionary trend here. I have four sibs and not one of us ended up as tall as our same-sex parent (neither of whom were particularly tall). Are we biological freaks? (I ask this without even mentioning that both of my children were born polydactyl) My kids aren't full grown yet so it's hard to say what will happen there but thus far they don't appear to be particularly tall for age. I'm wondering how unusual this is.

[SeattleGirl]

1. I'm over a foot taller than my mother.

All of my siblings are, but mom is rather short. Our dad was tall.

My daughter is a bit shorter than I am.

[Omphaloskepsis]

2. My mom is 5'3" and my dad was 5'7".

I am 6'0".

[Shine]

3. I'm 4 inches taller than my mom and the tallest of all 3 of her daughters

ShineBoy is 14 and just about as tall as me, at 5'6" already. He'll easily hit 6ft, which is as tall as MrShine.

ShineGirl is only 11, so it's still early to tell, but I don't know if she'll be as tall as me.

:hi:

I don't think you're a freak of nature. The gene pool is a mysterious thing.

[hfojvt]

24. it's not too early

you just double their height at 18 months, barring a major accident, illness, or food shortage.

At least that seemed to work for me, according to my childhood records. Nobody else seems to check it.

Maybe it does not work in these days of BGH milk.

[Arkansas Granny]

32. My pediatrician had told me to double the kids height at 2 years

to get an indication of their adult height and that he had found it to be accurate +/- 2 inches. They all grew to be within their predicted height range. My grandson, on the other hand, was predicted to be 5'6" to 5'8" and wound up being over 6', so it's certainly not foolproof.

[hfojvt]

50. I was told two years for boys and 18 months for girls

Apparently there is some kind of "height gap" between the sexes.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Ah. Sadly, your family is a victim of the gay agenda, which attempts to make people smaller.

I don't know why that's part of their agenda, but, hey, we're talking about people who want us to be forced to have sex with turtles. I suppose it's only natural that they'd pick something else as bizarre and twisted as trying to shorten the earth's population.

[Connonym]

8. ...

:spray:

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. p.s. - I'm much taller than my parents, all aunts and uncles, grandparents,

and all but one, maybe two, of my 60+ cousins.

Though in general, even though both my mom's side and my dad's side are short, the majority of my generation are taller than all of them (not all my cousins, but a majority of them), and the generation after me is tending toward being taller than their parents (which is putting most of them at or about my height, which is just 5'11").

But both my parents' families were seriously undernourished and under-doctored as children, so it's not surprising they'd be so short.

I'm seeing the same thing in Japan, too - as their food availability has gone up, and medical care has increased, the kids are now as tall as Americans even though the older generations are so short as to be almost kind of freaky sometimes. Much smaller than my family. It's gonna be a problem there, because so much of Japan is built for short people.

[AlCzervik]

5. i'm taller than both parents, my Mom was maybe 5'2 and my dad claims he's 5'9

which in reality is 5'5, i'm 5'6 and my 13 year old daughter is already almost an inch taller than me. My parents looked like Hobbits.

[tinrobot]

6. I'm an inch taller than my dad...

But my daughter is 3-4 inches shorter than her 5'11" mother.

Of course, my mom (her grandma) was only 5'5" so that's probably why it happened.

[Solon]

7. I'm taller than both my parents, my dad is 5'6", Mom was 5'9" or so...

I more or less matched my mother's height, exceeded my Dad's.

[reyd reid reed]

9. I'm a couple of inches taller than my mother was.

My daughter is a little taller than I am but I don't think the boys are going to reach their fathers' heights, though it's a little too early to tell with my youngest.

But my father is taller than his father was. My mother was taller than her mother was, as well.

[BreweryYardRat]

10. I'm taller than my dad, but I don't have any kids.

I stand about 4-5 inches taller than he does. My (quite some time in the future) kids will probably be my height or more, since I intend to see they get plenty of healthy protein (beef or salmon, for preference) growing up.

[Connonym]

15. heh, my mom *IS* a terrible cook so maybe that explains it

we're all just malnourished. My dad worked for a cereal company so maybe we ate too much Quisp and Quake and not enough protein? Hmmm...

[BreweryYardRat]

16. Probably.

And my mom was a terrible carb-heavy cook too. I strongly suspect the fact that I drank 1/4 to 1/2 gallon of milk a day is what saved me from being short.

[yewberry]

12. My same-sex parents are 5'3" & 5'4". My hetero parents are 6'4" & 5'6".

I'm 5'10".

Am I confused?

Are you?

[qwertyMike]

13. I' m 6'1"

My son is 19 and 6'0"
Runs in the family

[Mojambo]

14. By no more than an inch. n/t

[Digit]

17. I WAS 2 inches shorter than my mother, now 3 inches shorter and shrinking

My daughter is the same height as my mother.

In case you wonder, I am 4'11".

My mother's parents were very short...her father was about 5'1" and her mom probably the same.

[Tektonik]

18. I'm taller than my dad

He is 6'2", and I'm 6'6". My mom is 5'7".

[SarahB]

19. No and Yes.

I'm 5' 4.5". My mom is the exact same height. My daughter (15) is 5' 9" (my ex/her dad is only 5'8" BTW). My boys haven't hit puberty, but my 12 year old is only 4'10" which is the same height as my 9 year old son (who'll probably be my 6-footer).

My husband is 5'6.5" and his son is 12 and is already 5'8" (but was an early bloomer, so he may only grow another couple of inches).

[Manifestor_of_Light]

20. I'm much shorter than my parents too.

My mom (born in the 1920s) was about five foot seven, her mother was about five foot nine, and her father was about six foot two. Her brother was also tall.

My dad (born in the 1910s) was five foot eleven, and a pretty good sized man. His brother was six foot three.

I'm five foot three, and my deceased elder sister was about five foot five, and when we were young we were both tiny. I've gained weight as I've aged, but I'm still five foot three and small boned. My mother had small bones too but a bigger frame than me. I'm in my fifties.

I'm baffled.

My daughter is five foot three, same as my height. Her father is six foot seven. I thought she would be tall like him. However she is built like he is, so she looks much taller than she is. I thought she would be a tall beanpole like her dad. She's a miniature beanpole, is how I would put it.


Genetics is so interesting!

[Robeson]

21. I'm 6 ft. My Dad's 6' 1". My brother is 6' 3". My children, however, are...

...about 12 inches high. For some reason, my cats just didn't inherit my genes...;-)

[Flaxbee]

22. I and all of my sisters are taller than our respective moms...

(I have 5 half-sisters, two with the same mom and three with the same dad). But all of us girls are taller than our moms, and the sister who has full-grown daughters, the daughters are taller than their mom (my sister). Doesn't hurt that their dad is 6'7", though.

[Whoa_Nelly]

23. Am the same height my mother was (5'7")

and am the shortest of all five children (am 4th out five sibs)
2 sisters 5'8"
(but their shoes are two sizes smaller than mine!
and mine are 1/2 size larger than my mom's were)

Brother 6' 1"
Brother 6'3"

I have one child, a son, who is 6'4"
His father is 6'

[last_texas_dem]

25. Nah

My dad is 5'11-1/2" and I'm just under 5'9". My mom thinks I stunted my growth due to this crazy diet I went on when I was in eighth grade. That may be possible, but it could also be that the fact that my mom is only 5'2" had some influence!

The women in my family seem to be getting shorter, at least considering my immediate family. My grandma on my mom's side was 5'3", my mom is 5'2" and my sister is only 5'1".

Interestingly, my dad's height is the exact average of his parents'; his father was 5'11" and his mom was 6'. I would've thought I might have gotten some height from that side of the family, but amongst the number of male ancestors I had who were taller than me, there were also a number of men around 5'7" and shorter. I figure I turned out a pretty average height because, considering the wide range of heights in my family, my "average" height is what it all averaged out to!

[Pushed To The Left]

26. I am now, but my dad was taller at his tallest

I am 6'0" and my dad is around 5'11" now. However, my dad used to be 6'2" at his tallest. A spinal injury caused him to lose some height.

[Dulcinea]

27. Yes, a little.

I'm taller than my mom, but I think she's shrinking. She was 5' 5" for a long time. I'm 5' 6". My sisters are 5' 7" & 5' 5".

My daughters are 6 & 4 years old, so we'll have to see.

[some guy]

28. I'm taller than my Dad was.

I have no children.

[NewWaveChick1981]

29. I'm a quarter of an inch shorter than my mother.

In fact, at 5 ft. 4.5 inches tall, I'm the shortest person in my family. :( My father and brother are both 6 ft. tall, and my sister is 5 ft. 8 in. tall. :shrug:

[China_cat]

30. My mother was 5' 10"

None of us got that tall. I'm the shortest at 5' 3", my next sister is 5' 7" and the youngest is 5' 5".

But we all beat our maternal grandmother, who was 4' 8".

[Arkansas Granny]

31. I'm about two inches taller than both my mother and my daughter.

My sons are all a little taller than their father. My 19 year old granddaughter is taller than my daughter by about 4-5 inches, but my 21 year old grandson is about the same height as his father. There is such a disparity of heights in our family among both sexes that there isn't really an evolutionary trend for us to buck.

[Rosie1223]

33. My 3 daughters: 1 shorter, 1 taller, 1 still growing

#3 will probably be taller. My sister and I were both taller than our mom.

[BarenakedLady]

34. I'm about the same size as my mom.

My kids are only 10, 7, and 5, so I've still got them beat. I'm sure my son will grow taller than me eventually, though right now he is small for his age.

[raccoon]

35. Me and one of my sibs are shorter. Other sib, about the same. nt

[NewJeffCT]

36. I'm a few inches taller than my dad

too early to tell if my daughter will be taller than her mom.

[kwassa]

37. 4 inches shorter than my dad.

My older brother is about 2 inches shorter. Younger brother about the same height as dad.

[Blue Diadem]

38. I was taller than my Mom, she was shorter than hers.

My daughter is shorter than me. Her daughter seems tall for her age.

My DH is taller than his Father, who was also taller than his Father. Out of our two sons, one is taller than his Dad, the other is about the same height.

[bikebloke]

39. I out grew my father by a few inches.

He didn't like that. All my male cousins from the paternal side outgrew their parents. A female cousin was on the short side though.

I had a pediatrician who said I'd top six feet when I was about four or five. He was right. I hit 6'1".

[av8rdave]

40. My family is a mix...

My Dad is 6' 2' brother is 6' 3" Son is 6' 1" I only made it to 6' even.

[LaraMN]

41. My mom's 5'0", I'm 5'10", and my sister's 5'4".

Our dad is 6'4". My sis and I are both taller than our mom, I just took after our dad's side of the family a bit more; our grandma is 6'0". My daughter's only five, so I have no idea how tall she'll end up being. She's definitely above average height, thus far. My older son's just a little on the tall side, and my youngest is VERY short for his age (due to Down syndrome.)

[eyepaddle]

42. I'm six or seven inches taller than my dad,

I have no children though, so we can only speculate on that.

[lizziegrace]

43. Yes and yes

Mother is 5'3", I'm 5'6" and my daughter's 5'8"

[huskerlaw]

44. I'm 3 inches taller than my mom

as is my sister.

I don't have any kids. :shrug:

[dropkickpa]

45. I'm 4" shorter

mum os 5'4", dad is 5'5", so giants we ain't. One of my younger brother's is a freak because he is 5'9". Dropkid is 3'9" at 7 years old, and all of the height predictors are predicting she'll be between 5' and 5'1".

[NMDemDist2]

46. I'm about the same size as my mother, no kids so I can't answer that n/t

[terrya]

47. I'm a few inches taller than my late dad.

[NorthernSpy]

48. I'm maybe four? or so inches taller than my mom...

She's about average height for a woman, I guess.

My Dad was tall.


There's a formula for height prediction, by the way:

((Mother's height + (Father's height - five inches))/2 = daughter's likely adult height


(Father's height + (Mother's height + five inches))/2 = son's likely adult height

Or something like that...

[judaspriestess]

49. my mom is taller than me

I'm 5'4" my mom is 5'6"

never quite understood that one.

[DarkTirade]

51. At the moment I'd say yes...

but that's because he's at about -6 feet.

Honestly, I don't know how tall my biological father was. I know on my mother's side my mother and her two sisters were all shorter than their mother, but my uncle is taller than my grandpa. My grandpa was always pretty short though. He's been shrinking with age the last few years, he's down to about 5'3 or so at the moment. I can't imagine he was ever taller than 5'5 or 5'6.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

52. nope

[Iggo]

53. Yes...and zero kids....n/t

.

[BrotherBuzz]

54. I grew taller than my Dad was, and even though my son is only thirteen...

all indications are that he will grow taller than me (he already wears the same size shoe I do, size 13)

[snacker]

55. I'm a little taller than my mom.

and my children are all taller than I am. I'm 5'4" and 3 daughters are each 5'9" or 5'10", my husband is 6'2" and our son is 6'5".

[Shell Beau]

56. My mom is 5'. I am 5'5"!

Well really more like 5'4 1/2-ish!

[MikeH]

57. I am quite a bit taller than either of my parents

My dad, I think, was 5'9-1/2", and my mom, I think, is something like 5'7". I am 6'4".

It was quite a surprise for everybody in my family, including myself, when I grew to be tall as an adolescent. I was later followed by a younger brother who grew to be as tall as I am, and another younger brother who did not grow to be as tall. My two sisters are tall, or taller than average, for women. And I have a nephew who is approaching me in height, if he has not already surpassed me. I do not have any children.

None of my grandparents, or aunts and uncles, were especially tall. I have a male cousin on my mother's side who I think is as tall as I am. I have some male cousins on my father's side whom I have not seen in many years, at least one of whom I remember being tall; I do not remember if he is as tall as I am.

It is a gruesome story how I came to be tall; I was once a little boy, and then I grew some.

[Perseid]

58. I don't have a same sex parent

woe is me

[triguy46]

59. 4 inches taller than father. Daughter 1 inch taller than me, son 1 inch shorter.

[LostInAnomie]

60. I have about an inch and a half over my Dad at his tallest.