<p>I have a 9.5 year old child who is pretty tall for his age (5’0"), only 77 pounds, and the “height predictors” on the internet “predict” he will be about 6’5" tall. Are these things accurate? I am only 5’7", Dad is 6’0". All of my male first cousins are all over 6’4". This poor kid is already wearing a man’s size 9 shoe. I don’t know how much more growth I can take. (I buy new shoes for him at least every 3 months) This time it was only 6 weeks…lol. Now I am having trouble with pants…</p>
<p>The term growth spurts come to mind. Overall growth comes in spurts, and how quickly those genes work are also heredity. Big feet usually indicate a taller child, and his cousins got the tall gene somewhere too. I often think of growth traits coming from grandparents, not the parents, but what do i know. And I also notice that the tall kids have tall moms, even if the dad was of ‘normal’ height. But, in any case, think beyond just his parents, but his lineage. Anyone tall?</p>
<p>Disclaimer: not a doctor.</p>
<p>I haven’t. I would question their reliability, but it sounds like fun anyway.</p>
<p>We did and now I’d say it was pretty accurate. Not the kind that just blends the parent heights, but one that uses the more current algorithm that uses (I think) parent heights, current child age and height, and measures of length of limbs from hip to knee (which gives an idea of where one is in terms of their personal growth development- some kids are early, some are late). I don’t have the link but if you google around I think you’ll find it. The best ball park are parents however. </p>
<p>I would add that kids do not grow at all at the same rates. Some of the tallest kids back in the early years are now average; ours were late bloomers so they went from shortest in the class for most of elementary and even early teens, to about the 80th percentile now.</p>
<p>Put him in flip-flops XD</p>
<p>He may just be having an early spurt. My oldest son’s 6th grade basketball team was notable for having 3 boys who were 6-footers! (Son was about 5’ 4") Ten years later, he is 6 feet tall, and the other boys are only slightly taller. I also had a nephew who grew 6 inches in junior and senior of high school.</p>
<p>More telling than height is probably shoe size, which you’ve noticed, and muscle development. If the boys are putting on their adult layers of muscles, they’re slowing down in growth.</p>
<p>Good luck with the growth spurt! Don’t buy him more than a couple of pairs of pants from now until late summer, as he will surely be a size or two larger by then. One of my kids went through six sizes of clothing during a two-year growth spurt. You just shake your head sometimes!</p>
<p>Oh, how I can relate! We did a growth predictor thing and said S would be 6’2". Well, he’s 20 now at 6’6" having just put another inch on this past fall semester. He was always the tall one in the class but didn’t really take off until junior year HS. I think WHEN they hit their growth spurt is a pretty good indicator of how tall they will be: the later, the taller.
PS I have SOOOO many once-worn pairs of pants in the closet. Have got to get to Goodwill…
One of the biggest pains is packing his shoes - they are boats really and need a separate suitcase just for them…</p>
<p>Funny, I have the opposite problem. Our almost 16 year old S (sophmore in HS) hasn’t had that big “growth spurt” yet and is only 5 7" ish. All his friends are over 5 10" and most are about 6 2". He is getting concerned that he is “done” growing because his brother (19 years old) reached his current height of 5 10" at 14. Our younger son would at least like to be as tall as his brother- any taller is probably unrealistic since my husband is also 5 10".</p>
<p>I keep telling him that he will probably still grow as I’ve heard boys can grow into their
20s as evidenced by the previous poster.</p>
<p>My kids were at 5% for height & weight from the date they were born through now (at ages 20 & 22). My sib brothers were all told by their docs they would be “short.” They are 5’11", 6’1" & 6’3" now! My nephew was supposed to be tall (was 90-95% for height & weight from infancy thru early years) but seems to be levelling off at 5’8" at age 20.</p>
<p>When our kids were growing fast, I became a frequent thrift shop shopper. Sometimes, we could get everything that fit into a shopping bag for $1! This was very handy when they would switch multiple sizes in a short time.</p>
<p>Walmart has some pretty good prices–shorts were very helpful to our kids when they were growing rapidly as length isn’t so important.</p>
<p>I have some of my old report cards from elementary school which list height & weight. Just for fun, I plugged some #‘s into one of these predictors and discovered that I should be 5’4’’ but I am 5’7". </p>
<p>My brother had a classmate who stood head & shoulders above every other child in the class throughout elementary school. He stopped growing in middle school, he is about 6’1 or 6’2", so he is tall, but not abnormally so.</p>
<p>I never bothered using these for my kids.</p>
<p>Some children mature much earlier than others. When my older son was in middle school, I noticed that a few boys were significantly taller than their classmates. My son was on the smaller side. Now, at nearly 16, many of the taller boys are now no taller than my son, who still has that “beanpole” look, so I know he has much more growing to do. He’ll probably be taller than many of his friends who towered over him in 7th and 8th grade. As another poster mentioned, once you see your son adding muscle, you’ll know that his height is probably slowing down.</p>
<p>I’ve really struggled with pants for both of my boys - very thin with long legs. Land’s End has several khaki cargo styles with a built-in elastic belt. They also make a slim pant that you can have custom-hemmed with any inseam. These come in several colors. The prices are reasonable and the pants last a long time.</p>
<p>These are the cargo style pants:</p>
<p>[Boys</a>’ Open Bottom Cargo Climber Pants from Lands’ End](<a href=“http://www.landsend.com/pp/OpenBottomCargoClimberPants~146357_1189.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::DTK&CM_MERCH=IDX_00003__0000000328&origin=index]Boys”>http://www.landsend.com/pp/OpenBottomCargoClimberPants~146357_1189.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::DTK&CM_MERCH=IDX_00003__0000000328&origin=index)</p>
<p>And these are the custom inseam:</p>
<p>[Boys</a>’ Plain Front Blended Chino Pants from Lands’ End](<a href=“http://www.landsend.com/pp/PlainFrontBlendedChinoPants~178613_1189.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::KHA&CM_MERCH=IDX_00003__0000000328&origin=index]Boys”>http://www.landsend.com/pp/PlainFrontBlendedChinoPants~178613_1189.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::KHA&CM_MERCH=IDX_00003__0000000328&origin=index)</p>
<p>Supposedly, the target height for boys is mom’s height in inches plus five averaged with dad’s height. So for OP:</p>
<p>Mom: 67 inches plus five, Dad: 72 inches
72 + 72/ 2 = 72. He should end up being around six feet tall.</p>
<p>For girls, it’s mom’s height averaged with five less than Dad’s height.</p>
<p>Down the road, buying fitted long-sleeved dress shirts for thin/slim folks is another challenge (especially when they start inteviewing/working), but that’s another thread.</p>
<p>I wish it was a case of maturing early, but he is far from looking like he is adding muscle. Bean pole is the perfect word. I guess only time will tell. He does grow in spurts. About 4 per year the last few years. He is always the tallest, not only in his class, but his grade. Who knows. It is really the shoes that are killing me. He lives in flip flops in the summer but the school requires tennis shoes. The funny part, our daughter who is two years younger is a tiny little thing. They look like they are 4 or 5 years apart, not two.</p>
<p>I did the height projector, and it seems pretty accurate in my kids cases, but neither is extreme or an outlier. S is 6’2", D 5’9". S probably has another inch in him. They ended up about where I expected they would.</p>
<p>i was told years ago to take their height at age 2 and double it so you might take a look at where he was at age 2 and double it.</p>
<p>Same here, I read about doubling their height at age two. We did that way back then, and now, fully grown, it was about right. Son is about an inch taller than projected at 6’5" (he was also a tall tot, that’s why we were curious about how tall he might get), daughter is about what was predicted, 5’7".</p>
<p>Two does not a scientific proof make, but it worked pretty accurately for us.</p>
<p>I haven’t used the internet ones, but my kids were about that age when the doctor said they’d be six feet tall. I was surprised as no one on either side of the family is over 5’-10". But sure enough they are both over six feet.</p>
<p>When my son was around 14 and was growing very very slowly we had a bone age x-ray done and consulted with an endocrinologist. After conducting the evaluation, she predicted my son’s height, and he made it within 1 inch of that prediction. But I could have looked at the men on my side of the family and on my husband’s side and made an equally correct prediction. I suppose she eased my son’s anxiety at the time and for the next 4 years as he didn’t reach full height until he was 18.</p>