Help - my cousin is very short for his age

karaokeman

My cousin is 7 years old and he is unfortunitely very short for his age (about 3 foot tall).

School has not been easy for him either, all the bigger kids pick on him and all that.

My aunty has done all she can to help him out. She hasn't been able to find any small peoples societies or anything like that. If it helps she lives in Maynooth, Co. Kildare if anyone knows any nearby support services.

If anyone can help me with how I can lend a helping hand to my cousin, it would be much appreciated.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Chuchoter

I know a boy who sounds like your cousin-always tiny in his class. Now he is in second year and he is still really tiny. Get your aunt/uncle to bring him to a doctor to ask about growth hormones or something (I'm assuming he is just small for no obvious reason, like he doesn't have some pre-existing condition), this is a medical problem that should be dealt with by doctors, not support groups or internet. If you can fix it, do.

cynder

My brother was small, i was a foot taller than him at 7 (im 15 months younger than him). he is now 5 foot 4 at age 31 and has been 5,4 since he was 15. im 5,5.

My dad was the tallest in his family at 5,6.

my other brother (half-brother) was 2 months prem and was small up until he was 18 and then grew to 5,9 (his not my dads son we have different dads).

I know a few lads who grew no taller than 5,4 and know a few lads who had growth spurts at 18 and ended up around 5,7 - 5,9.


My mother was offered growth hormones for my brother but declined as they were still in the experimental stage and someone i was talking to a year ago whose son is small was offered growth hormones and they are still in the experimental stage.


Some people are destined to be small others tall, that's life.

My nephew, my half-brothers son is 9 and is only 2 inch's taller than my 5 year old.

My brother got picked on because he was small and one day ,my parents got a knock at the door, he had been in a fight with another 8 year old and hat bit this young fellas back, so his parents were giving out stink. My dad called my brother out (there was over a foot difference in height) and my dad said " what do you expect , tell him to pick on someone his own size or next time it will be a cricket bat" the child's parents got a shock when they saw the size of my brother. He had to fight dirty otherwise he would have been trampled on.


If the doctor has concerns they can run tests for dwarfism or other syndromes, genetics,hormones.

Your cousin should talk to her doctor and also the public health nurse as she might be able to tell her about support groups for children who are small.

best of luck.

Fittle

3ft is not that small at 7...is he only just 7? Does your cousin have a condition OP? I'm surprised that you would mention 'small peoples societes' for a 7yr old...and I'm also surprised that the second poster called this a 'medical condition'. Indicating to a 7yr old that he is different to his peers, will only make him feel MORE different.

As I said, unless this is a 'condition' of sorts, the child is not that much smaller than his peers - are his parents small OP?
How is it affecting him? Are people around him telling him he's small (adults I mean)?

di11on

Fittle wrote: »

3ft is not that small at 7...is he only just 7? Does your cousin have a condition OP? I'm surprised that you would mention 'small peoples societes' for a 7yr old...and I'm also surprised that the second poster called this a 'medical condition'. Indicating to a 7yr old that he is different to his peers, will only make him feel MORE different.

As I said, unless this is a 'condition' of sorts, the child is not that much smaller than his peers - are his parents small OP?
How is it affecting him? Are people around him telling him he's small (adults I mean)?

Probably worth starting out with the facts. The following chart shows percentiles for different ages. Basically, 95% of kids will be between the highest and lowest lines (of the set of curves towards the top). This is US data, but I don't expect Irish kids are much different.

http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/growthcharts/boystwoyears.gif

So the fact of the matter is that this kid is very short for his age. Idiots will pick on him and school will be more difficult in some respects.

Best to help him take it on the chin. Educating him to how much his physical stature actually matters is another thing that you can discuss, if it bothers him (only if he mentions it and it bothers him).

He has to know that his height is absolutely irrelevant. It won't effect his education, his health, anything. He won't be a basketball player but he might be a jockey. For him to have any hope of understanding this, you have to believe that it's irrelevant too, and this begins with not making an issue of it where there is none.

Help him deal with the actual situations that he finds himself in and disassociate them from the cause (which is superficial and ridiculous). Kids are making fun of him. Ok, how is he going to deal with this? It's going to happen a lot. He has to understand that these are very simple people singling someone out on the basis of something incredibly superficial.

My experience is that being short in school can be difficult, but once you reach third level and are surrounded by relatively educated people, it doesn't matter at all. Point out people in his life that aren't tall and ask him how much it matters to him? Show him a few episodes of Top Gear and show him how they rip the pi$$ out of Hammond :-)

Basically, people will slag you because you're small, because it's an obvious trait that singles you out. You have to learn to deal with this slagging and to understand that the fact you are small is actually irrelevant. The only real consequence of it is that you get slagged, that's it. Learn to deal with this, and that's it.