Why are people different heights?

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Our parents play a huge part in how tall we are. They pass on lots of traits to us, including eye color, skin color, baldness, other types of hair, and height! If a person has short parents, there is a good chance that person will be short too. If a person has tall parents, that person might be very tall. Our grandparents and their parents have also passed on traits to us. If you have a tall grandparent but short parents, there is a chance you might be tall because of a trait passed on to you from your grandparent.

The traits that we get from our families are with us from the time we’re born, but after we’re born, other things can affect height too. Nutrition is a big part. By eating healthy and exercising, we can make sure that our bones and organs are strong when they need to grow. 

Sometimes certain injuries can stop a person from growing before they have finished, like if you break a bone that still needs to grow.

Men also tend to be taller than women. There are many types of animals where the males and females are different sizes, and we’re one of them!

With all these different things that can affect how tall we are, it’s not surprising that people have so many different heights!

Growth Chart

How tall are you right now? You probably won’t be that height for very long, so enjoy it. Kids grow much more than adults, so it can be fun to watch and keep track of.

You can keep a growth chart on a wall in your room or on the back of the door. Get a long piece of paper (several feet long) and hang it up so that it stretches taller than you are. You probably will need a taller person to help out! Then, have someone help you measure how tall you are and mark your height on the chart with a little line and put the date next to it.

How tall do you think you’ll be in a month? In pencil, mark your guess. How tall do you think you’ll be in a year? Mark that guess too. Every month, check back to see if you’ve grown and how much. How tall do you think you’ll grow? If you are able to, mark your parents’ heights on the chart too. Maybe you’ll catch up to them. Maybe you’ll grow even taller!

There are no bad heights. There are good things about being tall. You can reach things easily on high shelves. There are good things about being short too. You won’t have to duck as much to fit under things. There are plenty of good things about being somewhere in the middle too!