• Question: Because I am small for my age, Will it mean that I grow differently from my friends?

    Asked by 842aged37 to Carolyn, Peter, Richard, Sara, Siana on 12 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Richard Unwin

      Richard Unwin answered on 12 Nov 2015:

      Not necessarily. Your final maximum adult height is determined by your genes, but we all grow at different rates to get there. I was always comfortably the smallest in my class at school, but I had a big growth spurt around 17-18 and now I’m a distinctly average 5’10”, and taller now than some of my old classmates.

    • Photo: Carolyn Nielsen

      Carolyn Nielsen answered on 16 Nov 2015:

      People do grow at different speeds. I was the shortest in my class for years (not that it bothered me) and my grandma always said I’m be the shortest in the family, but I just grew a bit late and am now almost exactly average height for our generation.

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