How do I make sure my kids grow up to be tall?

Question

I am a 5'1''(yes you read that right) male, and I want to make sure when I am a father someday (I am 19 right now) that my kids are normal height or tall, not freakishly short like me. How do I do that? My father is 5'10.5 but my mom is 4'11. How do i make sure my kids, assuming they are boys, grow to be near or at least 6 feet tall? I want them to be good at sports so they can go to an elite college or university, and I want them to have friends and popularity, which they can only do if they are not freakishly short like me.

Answer 1

Actually, while your height is determined genetically, there are environmental factors that will affect the genetic determination.  Nutrition in early childhood is an important factor and is directly correlated with the height that will be attained as an adult.  So basically, to ensure your children gain their maximum possible genetic height, they need to have a healthy balanced diet, particularly in those early years when they grow so quickly.  So learn lots of tricks to make kids eat their vegies and fruit (you'll need it)!!

No guarantee that your kids will be tall, but you can certainly give them the best chance.

Oh, and avoid those products that tend to be high in human growth hormones, etc, such as chicken, so they don't go into early puberty.  Go organic - best nutrition, and you know it is natural.

Answer 2

You don't have to be tall to excel at sports. What's that short basketball player's name that can dunk. Mugsy Bowles, I think. Lol forgive me if i'm wrong. If it's in their genes to be short, sorry but you can't do anything about it. Love your kids for who they are, and not what you want them to be.

Answer 3

Ok answer me this, if you had kids and they were tall, but didn't like sports, then what? Being short or different is not what makes a person liked, its their personality, humor and things like that. Someone who does not like themselves will not be like by others. Now if you had kids and they were smaller than average, would you call them freaks? Thaty right there would ruin their life! You love your kids unconditionally no matter what.

Answer 4

Please don't have children until you understand this fully and completely: Height is based on GENETICS, not parenting tactics.

Answer 5

Marry a woman who is 6'6" tall, whose parents were both tall...

You are the height you are because of the genes you inhereted from your mothers family...

no early puberty or plates growing...genes...and your kids will inheret those same genes, plus their mothers...if their mother is tall, they will be taller than you, but not as tall as her....

Answer 6

well have them drink lots of milk for calcium and strong bones and lots of vegetables. I heard most of kids growing is done in their sleep so make sure they get enough rest. other than that, theres not a lot you can do to influence it.  

Answer 7

find a really tall chick and hope your kids get her genes......because its in the genes from the moment she gets pregnant if they will be tall or not....you cant really do anything but hope..

Answer 8

its all genetics, there is no way to predict how tall your children will be

Answer 9

have a baby with a really tall chick.

its all in the genetics!!!

Answer 10

Height is mostly a genetic factor, but nutrition and exercise can prevent a child from reaching his or her genetic potential.

If you want the genetics for height, marry a woman who is tall and comes from a family of tall individuals. Your children wouldn't be guaranteed height but they would get half her genes. My family is very tall, my husband's is average. Our first son is very tall (6'5") and our second son is tall/average (almost 6' at age 15 but probably done growing). Our daughter is 5'2" at age 11. Both of us are from early maturing families, we all achieved our full height by age 15. My uncle is 6'2" and married a woman from a very short family, their kids are all "average." Their daughter married a very tall man and both of their sons are over 6' tall.

To help your children achieve their full genetic height potential they should be fed plenty of protein, fruit, vegetables and calcium (milk or certain vegetables) to insure muscle and bone growth. Grains and starches are used by the body for energy, not for growth, and should be kept to a minimum as needed for their activity level.

Watch their weight. They should be of "average" healthy weight. Too little weight and their body goes into emergency mode, sacrificing height for survival. Too much weight and their body gets "weighed down," their metabolism slows and so does growth in height.

Also, excess weight causes earlier puberty, and puberty triggers the mechanism that eventually shuts down growth. Excessive thinness can delay puberty, but the damage done to bone and muscle prevents the extra growth.

They should be fit but not physically stressed. Too little exercise or too much both delay or shut down growth.

The awesome thing about this is the same things that enhance growth are also just plain healthy.

There is also a health factor. If a kid gets sick right when their body is about to go into a growth spurt it can delay or cancel that growth spurt. So keep your kids vaccinated so they don't get sick with unnecessary illnesses. A healthy diet (as mentioned above) will help with their general health.

No one can guarantee your children who are 6' tall (unless you go to a fertility clinic and get sperm from a person who is 6' tall or taller and raise them as your own), but all of these factors will increase the chances of taller children.

Answer 11

Adopt and hope the parents are tall?  It's all about genetics.  

Answer 12

Tell them to eat their veggies and Protien.

Jk, I think thats in the family genes.

Not much you can do if you, your dad, and your grandpa were 5'1 your children most likely  Aren't gonna be 6'1".

Answer 13

Sorry, there's no magic formula for having tall children; it's all in the genetics. So marry a tall woman and make sure they drink lots of milk and eat all of their vegetables, and see a pediatrician regularly. If the doctor is concerned, I know there are like "growth shots" that kids can take, but it's only for rare cases when prescribed by a doctor.

I feel your pain, though kind of. I'm pretty short (5'4), but my husband is pretty tall (to me, anyway). Our kids aren't very old yet, but so far they're all in the normal height range :)

Answer 14

As everyone has said before it is all genetics. There is no way to ensure someone grows to a certain height. Unfortunately there are some people shorter than others. Are you sure you have finished growing? My brother didn't finish until he was 20/21...grew about 3-4 inches in that year.

There could still be hope but try not let it get you down.