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Growth Patterns Perhaps more than any other factor, your youngster's pattern of growth and ultimate height will be influenced by heredity. Your son, for example, may want to be one of the tallest boys in his class, and he may aspire to play professional basketball. However, if both you and your spouse have below-average stature, his height as an adult will be more like yours than like his favorite sports idol's. While there are exceptions, tall parents usually have tall children, and short parents usually have short children. Those are the realities of genetics. Even so, if your child seems unusually short or tall relative to her friends of the same age, talk with your pediatrician. The doctor may recommend X-rays to determine your child's bone growth. A true growth disorder can sometimes be treated by administering growth hormones; however, this therapy is reserved for youngsters whose own glands cannot produce this hormone, thus interfering with normal growth. Physicians do not recommend this treatment for healthy boys and girls who may want (or whose parents may want them) to grow to be 6 feet tall instead of 5 feet 8. Excerpted from Caring for Your School-Age Child: Ages 5 to 12, Bantam 1999 (©)Copyright 2000 American Academy of Pediatrics  
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