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They Say: It’s Okay If Your Kid’s Short (Video)
Fact: The average age for growth spurts for boys is 13. Girls typically experience spurts two years earlier than boys.
Fact: According to the FDA, children are considered short of stature when they are shorter than 98.8 percent of other kids of the same gender and age.
Fact: Healthy eating and physical activity may help the kiddos grow, but the reality is, genetics play a major part.
According to ABC News Senior Health and Medical Editor, Dr. Richard Besser, if your child is growing less than 2 inches a year, not gaining or losing weight…or if the child is frequently coughing or experiencing infections, check with a doctor because there may be something going on.
But some kids were just not meant to be tall. HGH is probably not the answer, as human growth hormone is just that…a hormone. Doctors can administer it to kids with a proven deficiency to make up for where nature fell asleep at the wheel but at the end of the day they reach their intended height. Clearly it’s not for everyone.
So what do you do? It’s up to the parents to show their undersized kids that height (or for that fact, weight, breast size, agility or skin color) should have no bearing on whether or not they succeed in life.
“If you’re a jockey you’d rather be short stature, and if you’re a basketball player you’d rather be tall,” Besser said. “So depending on what you see as success, you may find yourself on the losing end.” So said Dr. Besser to George Stephanopoulos, whose lack of stature, but the way. hasn’t hurt his career one bit.
It’s up to parents to impress upon their kiddies that each and every one of them can succeed–and be loved–for what they are. I was always the tallest kid in the class. Not one of the tallest, the tallest. Yeah, sometimes I felt awkward (and believe me, I was) but in the end I embraced it and came to love it.
Here’s a nice piece on a teen who feels the same way:
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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