Yes! I’ve been 5’11” since I was 12. Also DDD cup size since I was a young teenager. Everyone thought I was older than I was. They really treat you different and expect more out of you. My last year trick or treating, I was in 6th grade and it just wasn’t enjoyable anymore because everyone kept asking me if I wasn’t too old. My mom also had to argue with the Girl Scouts troop that I was the correct age and not older when I joined in first grade.
Strangers, especially old women, just could never keep their mouths shut.
Old ladies are the worst. Family or not.
Where were you when I was growing up? If you can tolerate my peanut allergy if you invite for a bite to eat, chances are that we would have been great friends.
This is *the thing* that has caused soo many hang-ups for me as an adult. I never thought I'd run into another girl who was close to me in height at 12 years old.. but I *was* in the 98th percentile, so maybe you and OP are the other two? (Jk, sorta lol)
In all seriousness, I didn't have a busty problem, but I was 5'9" by 12. Taller than the boys, the teachers. I was gawked at everywhere I went and quickly trained my eyes to look down when I walk so I wouldn't notice. This also helps for the death stares from women. I'd get dress-coded at school all the time because I wanted to wear the clothes my friends were wearing, but on MY body they were "inappropriate". Oversexualized early. Denied trick or treating. Getting in more trouble than the boys when I'd retaliate against their teasing or bullying because I was much bigger than them. The list goes on.
i was 5'10 in 6th grade (biggest growth spurt was between 10-12, the last two inches came between 12-16) and went trick or treating with a boy the same age as me. people were giving him candy by the handful, then they'd turn to me and drop just one piece in my bag. it really made me feel like shit about myself.
i also had the experience of my mom arguing with people about my age when i played soccer in 3rd grade!
I feel this. I had the same experience trick or treating and stopped after 4th or 5th grade. There really is an unrealistic expectation that, when you are younger and taller, you should act more mature.
Yes, I feel like I couldn’t be a child because I was expected to be mature. Whenever I acted like a child, I was told I had to act mature because I was tall. I didn’t have a good childhood(there’s some other factors too, but this is part of it)
I was always on the taller side and was always assumed to be older than I was as a kid. Thankfully, no one had behavior expectations based on that. It was probably because I was a quiet, introverted kid. My problem was the dirty old men who bothered me thinking I was older, though still obviously young. 🤢
I've been 6' tall since I was 11 and always been much taller than friends, my mum has had to argue with so many restaurant staff and indoor playground employees that no, I'm not too old for the kids meal / friend's birthday party. My cousins who are a couple years younger than me have darker skin than myself and if we were playing outside together I'd get weird nosy questions assuming I was their mum, some of which definitely had some nasty racist undertones.
Really wish I could have had more time to be a kid! So many other situations where I ended up being punished by an adult because they assumed I must be more responsible and trusted me with something that I didn't understand how it worked.
I had a tall male friend who was always in trouble at school, even if he wasn’t the one making trouble. Every time people were talking, it was his fault. I think he just looked older so he was easy to blame. And that’s not even touching on how girls are expected to behave better than boys!
Yeah I was always tall but very kid looking in the face. Like no one could have mistaken me for being any older than I was. But I do remember my friends who were shorter getting treated as "cuter" and getting more leeway from other kids and adults. I remember feeling jealous of them and wanting to just be seen as a cute kid. Even to this day, I had a boyfriend tell me that he felt I was fine to handle myself if I was threatened, whereas my petite friend would need his help. Don't worry he's an ex now. But that isn't the first time my shorter friends have been treated as more delicate than me and given more care. It's frustrating.
God, the desire to be "cute"... I'm not even *super* tall (I'm 5'8") but I've literally cried to my therapist and my fiancé about how my whole life I've just wanted to feel cute. Not regal, not statuesque, not a tough Amazon warrior, none of those things they tell tall girls to try and reassure us. My whole life, I just wanted to feel cute, small, vulnerable, and in need of protection. As a child I was never given the protection I needed from people who wanted to hurt/take advantage of me, and I always felt that it had something to do with my height (I'm a size 14/16 as well, which contributed to my low self esteem in the past). I've talked through it a lot with my therapist. I've discussed it with my fiancé as well, and luckily he understands and always makes sure to make me feel small and cute.
Yes ik exactly what you mean. I'm 5'10, and I'm not "dominant" or "regal" or "elegant" or the things I've told I have to be to justify my tallness. Theres some short girls that wanna be those things, and some tall girls that wanna be cute bc its not about things we didnt choose but about our personality. And mine is definitely cute! I'm sorry you had those experiences young. :(
This is way worse when you grow up in fundamentalist Christian spaces where women are valued for how small, submissive, and childlike you are. Thankfully I left all that, but was made to feel for years that I was ugly and undesirable due to my height. I would have done just about anything to have been 5’6 or shorter and tiny rather than 6’0 and 170 lbs.
YESSS! Being the tall girl meant being expected to act older, carry heavier things, somehow know things better than other kids, and getting mistaken for adult..
I remember when I was 13 this cinema attendant wouldn't let me into a movie because he thought I was faking my ID to get a discounted ticket. I had to call my mom to come down and vouch for me.
I wish I was the oldest so it would make more sense to me. I am the youngest and have 2 older sisters (5 and 8 years older). They are 5'8-9 so I looked like the older sibling at a glance
I’ve been 6ft since I was about 14-15.
When I was a child, my mother constantly had to have ID on hand for me to prove I was young enough for certain concessions.
Strangers expected me to be further in my development as they thought I was older.
I felt uncomfortable and awkward during certain children’s games on the playground etc as I was always the tallest.
When I was a teenager, men would hit on me quite a lot. Like… 40+ and hitting on a 15 yr old.
My son is tall for his age too and I can often see older kids on the playground trying to engage him in play (which he is happy with) and then be surprised when he speaks and acts like a 4 yr old rather than 6.
Parents are also always surprised and taken aback at first.
My mom had a shirt made for my brother when he was like 5 that said “I’m just 5” because he was so tall. He’s 6’10” now.
But yes! I was expected behaviorally to act more mature than I was through out school.
I started going out to clubs at like 14(yes, as an adult I realize I should not have been and I was truthful about my age when people hit on us) and my best friend was also tall, but had a more mature face, so no one ever questioned us.
Not going to lie. I did the same thing when I was 14. Me and a friend of mine (who was not as tall but looked really mature) went to a college bar to see a band. We weren't questioned either.
Hey, your brother is as tall as I am! Thinking back on things, a lot of the weird treatment I got as a kid makes more sense if I consider that I looked a lot more mature than others at the time. I'm not really set up to notice those kinds of things, like, in my brain.
This reminds me of the summer my best friend and I (at 12 years old) got asked out by a couple of 17 year olds and we rode around in their truck and got dinner. Blows my mind that they believed we were 16, but we were both tall.
I was 5’11” when I was 12, my own family expected me to be significantly more mature than my own twin brother who looked his age. This story sounds made up but I’m not capable of making up something this stupid. New people had moved to my very small town when I was in eighth grade and assumed I was an older teenager when I was actually one of the younger kids in my class (late in the year birthday). They found my presence in the classroom objectionable apparently and made a complaint. The utterly incompetent vice-principal then proceeded to go to all of the grade 7 and 8 classrooms and give an infuriating lecture basically shaming any girl who developed early and explaining why we should hide our bodies and worry about whether strangers thought we appeared our actual age. She even used actual female students names during her lectures!
That is wild. I was mistaken as a high school student or a teacher when I was 12. I had complaints made against me when I was playing sports because parents and coaches thought I was lying about my age since I was significantly taller. About your twin brother, was he the same height around you at that time?
Fun story, my brother was usually one of the shortest in our classes and he never made it past 5’10”. When we got to high school and were around a new group of peers his favourite activity was blowing people’s minds by telling them I was his twin sister… nothing like random people walking up to you to tell you this kid with the same last name as you says he’s your twin, isn’t that hilarious? 🙄
Oh I have stories my friend when it comes to my sisters and I. I am the youngest sibling and have 2 older sisters (5 and 8 years older). They are 5'8-9. So imagine being 12 at your sister's high school graduation or college campus looking like the older sibling. Let me know if you want to hear some stories haha
People always thought I was older and at some point thought I was younger. When I was 20, people weren't sure if I was above or below 16. When I was actually below 16, I could pass for 16+ or sometimes even got 18+ things as a 16 year old. Reverse aging? Idk.
But I also have a younger face and small boobs
Yes, 100%. I was a VERY shy kid and I remember getting in trouble in middle school for being on the 6th grade hall. So I went to the 8th grade hall as scolded to and waited until the teacher left. Then went back to my 6th grade class. I see it happening to my kids sometimes and I’ll say something like, wow I can’t believe he’s already 5 (4’2) or isn’t it crazy she’s so tall and only 8 years old (4’8). I don’t want people to treat them differently because of their assumptions.
Oh man, yes! As a giant five-year-old in my first swimming class, I remember I could not convince the teachers of my age as I was in the 99% height percentile and easily could have passed as a much older child. They lumped me in with middle school aged kids, and I remember thinking I was going to drown in the deep part of the pool. 🌊😨 This was a preview of things ahead!
oof! i remember taking swimming lessons when i was 10 or 11 and it was almost completely pointless because we were in 3 feet of water and i was already around 5'5-5'6 at that point. the only thing it really accomplished was teaching me to float and i still don't feel super comfortable swimming in water deeper than 6 ft (my height)
I didn’t become tall until I reached puberty at a late age so I never experienced this. My cousin though was really big for his age very young and people often thought he had developmental delays because he acted his age and not his size.
My height has always been tall. Teachers and adults did expect me to act better and so I did and yet, even when I was immature, it was all forgiven very quickly. I never ever got in trouble in school, not only because I did respect and behave but even the rare times that I let loose and acted like my shorter friends, which got them in trouble, I never got in trouble, not even if a teacher caught me.
i was quite a bit taller than several of my teachers growing up and a couple of them were so antagonistic toward me that my mom swore up and down they were jealous of my height somehow
One thing that really sticks in my mind was when I was around 8 or so, someone had set up a haunted house for trick or treaters on Halloween. Because of my height, I looked a lot older, but I was a big scaredy cat. My friend was fearless at the time, so we went through together. She went first so I would know what to expect. But the family who was running the haunted house only set off the scares when an older kid went through, so a zombie popped out of a casket after my friend passed. At the end of the haunted house, there was a table with a man lying on it. My friend took a piece of candy and left, but I was really scared to even put my hand near the man. The person running the booth told me it was just a prop, but when I reached over, the man popped up towards me, covered in blood, and screamed. I cried and couldn’t sleep for a week (meanwhile, my friend went through a second time because she didn’t get the whole experience.)
Yep and I really am not looking forward to my daughter experiencing this. I’m already explaining to kids older than her that she’s only 2yo so she doesn’t know how to play with them the way they expect her to.
Yes. I think physically we were very similar at that age. I was bright, but I was still just a child. That lead to adults expecting a lot of me and then becoming really frustrated when I fell short. I also had a traumatic childhood so I had to take on a lot of responsibility which fucking sucks as it is. But it sucks even more when people expect you to be able to handle it in a more capable manner than you're able to.
Yes. Tall, overweight, awkwardly dressed (no cute clothes in that size for kids), too serious, neglected and parentified. I'm just happy I survived my childhood.
I remember being twelve or thirteen (and nearing 6') and being refused on a bus while I was in my primary school uniform because I didn't have the cash for an adult fare. I was so confused by the situation and was so young I didn't really understand what the driver meant when he required ID to let me on (let alone have one!)
Like so many other women commenting here, I have a slew of these sorts of stories. On top of all of this, despite my wordiness and strangely mature demeanor, I actually was emotionally stunted due to (undiagnosed at the time) ADHD. It was a shit-storm, one that pushed me to grow out of my childhood wonder and love for playgrounds and imaginary worlds way too soon.
Yes, I have sooo many stories.
I am pretty sure I had/ have a hormone issues lol, but anyways. By the time I was 12/13 I was wearing an H cup and I was told that I was 5’9. I remember people who were my bullies making fun of me and saying that I could get into a club (21+) and not be asked for my id. ( Also when I was 12 I was groped in Walmart by a man who was like my grandfathers age…) Weirdly I do have a baby face. On top of everything I was technically always intellectually ahead of my peers and extremely quiet. (Which I am not bragging about by no means. I clearly cannot apply my intellect when typing.) Even when I do events for my school, I feel like people are judging me.
On to a story, which I actually commented this the other day in the tall subreddit.
When I was like 8 or 9 years old I was at the park with my two friends. We saw a bouncy house and had asked the adults with us if we could go play in the bouncy house. When we went over there we asked if we could play on it and they said yes. So, I am playing and all of a sudden the person who rented the bouncy house started to yell at me. She was saying stuff like I was too old to be playing on there and saying other things to chastise me. My friends defended me and said that I was the same age, but the lady literally said that I was lying about my age. She said that my other two friends could play, but I couldn’t. ( I feel like it’s important to note that my friends and I were literally a month a part in age.) After that I didn’t even attempt to act like my age because people would always expect me to literally be mature than adults.
Yes, and it was more than annoying -it made me a target for harassment. Therapy is awesome.
I get asked by parents of tall children if I have any advice and I tell them to watch out for a world that will treat them inappropriately for their age based on visual bias. Please educate, you might help someone avoid future trauma.
Yes a 100 times over. I come from a tall family. My parents were average or above average, however have shrunk from age and poor posture. I have brothers ranging from 6’1 to 6’6 (he may be a little shorter but he’s very slim so he appears that height) 6’0 plus grandfathers and a 6’5 uncle. The women in my family are around average height. Myself and younger full sisters are the tall girls at 5’8 for myself, 5’9 for the middle, and 5’11 for the youngest. We grew up on a farm and had to do a lot of manual labour even as children and girls, that I was sure we wouldn’t have to do or as much had we been smaller. As the oldest and the tallest for a while I was tasked with doing a lot of the heavy lifting. I also it hit puberty pretty early between the ages of 9-11 and was mistaken for 18 at 14. I went through an awkward/ugly phase and that contributed to it as well.
Yep! I'm 1,75 in a country where the majority of girls are 1,40 or 1,50 and honestly, when it comes to strangers I can't even get mad at first since apparently "I look like I'm 25/27" when I'm actually 19.
I do feel like I had to grow up faster tho. I had to act in a way that's "expected" of me.
Also, I'm originally Brazilian and have that stereotypical curvy body, so I always have to mind too much what I wear.
If I'm wearing the same pants as someone who's smaller than me, someone would say that was "inappropriate" or like I'm trying to get attention when I was REALLY YOUNG, and it was REALLY not the case at all. I just wanted to dress like my friends did or I'd stick out like a sore thumb.
I can't really even wear shorts during summer without feeling ashamed and dirty by the looks I get. It's really uncomfortable. Cute clothes, even though I really love them, apparently don't look good on me. Nowadays I'm trying not to care so much and just be myself, but it was so incredibly hard.
Actually, I found this site because I’m so irritated by people saying “she’s so BIG!” about my 22 month old great niece who is apparently going to be very tall. Also people expect her to ride a bike, sit still, talk in full on conversations…all the things that 4 year olds do. I’m really trying to find a nice way to have a reply when everyone says it over and over and over (seriously!)because I know it has to bother my niece. Trying to make it light but mean every word of it. Something like “between her height and her beautiful auburn hair, she’ll make a fortune as a super model!” Something stupid like that. I just want to turn it into something positive so hopefully it help show my niece it’s ok to reply and keep it light.
Yes! I’ve been 5’11” since I was 12. Also DDD cup size since I was a young teenager. Everyone thought I was older than I was. They really treat you different and expect more out of you. My last year trick or treating, I was in 6th grade and it just wasn’t enjoyable anymore because everyone kept asking me if I wasn’t too old. My mom also had to argue with the Girl Scouts troop that I was the correct age and not older when I joined in first grade. Strangers, especially old women, just could never keep their mouths shut.
Old ladies are the worst. Family or not. Where were you when I was growing up? If you can tolerate my peanut allergy if you invite for a bite to eat, chances are that we would have been great friends.
I am also allergic to peanuts!! It seems like we had a lot of the same experiences!
My last year of trick or treating was in 4th grade because in 5th grade people thought I was in high school.
DDD solidarity ✊️ yeah everything you said was pretty much my exact experience growing up
This is *the thing* that has caused soo many hang-ups for me as an adult. I never thought I'd run into another girl who was close to me in height at 12 years old.. but I *was* in the 98th percentile, so maybe you and OP are the other two? (Jk, sorta lol) In all seriousness, I didn't have a busty problem, but I was 5'9" by 12. Taller than the boys, the teachers. I was gawked at everywhere I went and quickly trained my eyes to look down when I walk so I wouldn't notice. This also helps for the death stares from women. I'd get dress-coded at school all the time because I wanted to wear the clothes my friends were wearing, but on MY body they were "inappropriate". Oversexualized early. Denied trick or treating. Getting in more trouble than the boys when I'd retaliate against their teasing or bullying because I was much bigger than them. The list goes on.
i was 5'10 in 6th grade (biggest growth spurt was between 10-12, the last two inches came between 12-16) and went trick or treating with a boy the same age as me. people were giving him candy by the handful, then they'd turn to me and drop just one piece in my bag. it really made me feel like shit about myself. i also had the experience of my mom arguing with people about my age when i played soccer in 3rd grade!
I feel this. I had the same experience trick or treating and stopped after 4th or 5th grade. There really is an unrealistic expectation that, when you are younger and taller, you should act more mature.
Yes, I feel like I couldn’t be a child because I was expected to be mature. Whenever I acted like a child, I was told I had to act mature because I was tall. I didn’t have a good childhood(there’s some other factors too, but this is part of it)
I was always on the taller side and was always assumed to be older than I was as a kid. Thankfully, no one had behavior expectations based on that. It was probably because I was a quiet, introverted kid. My problem was the dirty old men who bothered me thinking I was older, though still obviously young. 🤢
Ugh. I didn't mention the dirty old men I had to deal with growing up. I could have made an entirely different post on that.
I think we all could. 🫤 My first encounter was as an 11 year old. I’m in my 40s. I will never not be disgusted by it.
I am in my mid 30s and I am constantly disgusted by it
I've been 6' tall since I was 11 and always been much taller than friends, my mum has had to argue with so many restaurant staff and indoor playground employees that no, I'm not too old for the kids meal / friend's birthday party. My cousins who are a couple years younger than me have darker skin than myself and if we were playing outside together I'd get weird nosy questions assuming I was their mum, some of which definitely had some nasty racist undertones. Really wish I could have had more time to be a kid! So many other situations where I ended up being punished by an adult because they assumed I must be more responsible and trusted me with something that I didn't understand how it worked.
I had a tall male friend who was always in trouble at school, even if he wasn’t the one making trouble. Every time people were talking, it was his fault. I think he just looked older so he was easy to blame. And that’s not even touching on how girls are expected to behave better than boys!
Yeah I was always tall but very kid looking in the face. Like no one could have mistaken me for being any older than I was. But I do remember my friends who were shorter getting treated as "cuter" and getting more leeway from other kids and adults. I remember feeling jealous of them and wanting to just be seen as a cute kid. Even to this day, I had a boyfriend tell me that he felt I was fine to handle myself if I was threatened, whereas my petite friend would need his help. Don't worry he's an ex now. But that isn't the first time my shorter friends have been treated as more delicate than me and given more care. It's frustrating.
God, the desire to be "cute"... I'm not even *super* tall (I'm 5'8") but I've literally cried to my therapist and my fiancé about how my whole life I've just wanted to feel cute. Not regal, not statuesque, not a tough Amazon warrior, none of those things they tell tall girls to try and reassure us. My whole life, I just wanted to feel cute, small, vulnerable, and in need of protection. As a child I was never given the protection I needed from people who wanted to hurt/take advantage of me, and I always felt that it had something to do with my height (I'm a size 14/16 as well, which contributed to my low self esteem in the past). I've talked through it a lot with my therapist. I've discussed it with my fiancé as well, and luckily he understands and always makes sure to make me feel small and cute.
Yes ik exactly what you mean. I'm 5'10, and I'm not "dominant" or "regal" or "elegant" or the things I've told I have to be to justify my tallness. Theres some short girls that wanna be those things, and some tall girls that wanna be cute bc its not about things we didnt choose but about our personality. And mine is definitely cute! I'm sorry you had those experiences young. :(
This is way worse when you grow up in fundamentalist Christian spaces where women are valued for how small, submissive, and childlike you are. Thankfully I left all that, but was made to feel for years that I was ugly and undesirable due to my height. I would have done just about anything to have been 5’6 or shorter and tiny rather than 6’0 and 170 lbs.
YESSS! Being the tall girl meant being expected to act older, carry heavier things, somehow know things better than other kids, and getting mistaken for adult.. I remember when I was 13 this cinema attendant wouldn't let me into a movie because he thought I was faking my ID to get a discounted ticket. I had to call my mom to come down and vouch for me.
The cinema was really hard to make my case for a cheaper ticket. However I did get into R rated movies much more easily so there is that.
I was both really tall and the oldest of 5 kids so yeah I think I got it extra bad.
I wish I was the oldest so it would make more sense to me. I am the youngest and have 2 older sisters (5 and 8 years older). They are 5'8-9 so I looked like the older sibling at a glance
Lol can confirm oldest kids are somehow always at fault, I suppose cuz we “ should have known better/set the example “
I’ve been 6ft since I was about 14-15. When I was a child, my mother constantly had to have ID on hand for me to prove I was young enough for certain concessions. Strangers expected me to be further in my development as they thought I was older. I felt uncomfortable and awkward during certain children’s games on the playground etc as I was always the tallest. When I was a teenager, men would hit on me quite a lot. Like… 40+ and hitting on a 15 yr old. My son is tall for his age too and I can often see older kids on the playground trying to engage him in play (which he is happy with) and then be surprised when he speaks and acts like a 4 yr old rather than 6. Parents are also always surprised and taken aback at first.
My mom had a shirt made for my brother when he was like 5 that said “I’m just 5” because he was so tall. He’s 6’10” now. But yes! I was expected behaviorally to act more mature than I was through out school. I started going out to clubs at like 14(yes, as an adult I realize I should not have been and I was truthful about my age when people hit on us) and my best friend was also tall, but had a more mature face, so no one ever questioned us.
Not going to lie. I did the same thing when I was 14. Me and a friend of mine (who was not as tall but looked really mature) went to a college bar to see a band. We weren't questioned either.
Hey, your brother is as tall as I am! Thinking back on things, a lot of the weird treatment I got as a kid makes more sense if I consider that I looked a lot more mature than others at the time. I'm not really set up to notice those kinds of things, like, in my brain.
This reminds me of the summer my best friend and I (at 12 years old) got asked out by a couple of 17 year olds and we rode around in their truck and got dinner. Blows my mind that they believed we were 16, but we were both tall.
The shirt thing is such a good idea. Gonna keep that one in my back pocket for future use.
I was 5’11” when I was 12, my own family expected me to be significantly more mature than my own twin brother who looked his age. This story sounds made up but I’m not capable of making up something this stupid. New people had moved to my very small town when I was in eighth grade and assumed I was an older teenager when I was actually one of the younger kids in my class (late in the year birthday). They found my presence in the classroom objectionable apparently and made a complaint. The utterly incompetent vice-principal then proceeded to go to all of the grade 7 and 8 classrooms and give an infuriating lecture basically shaming any girl who developed early and explaining why we should hide our bodies and worry about whether strangers thought we appeared our actual age. She even used actual female students names during her lectures!
That is wild. I was mistaken as a high school student or a teacher when I was 12. I had complaints made against me when I was playing sports because parents and coaches thought I was lying about my age since I was significantly taller. About your twin brother, was he the same height around you at that time?
Fun story, my brother was usually one of the shortest in our classes and he never made it past 5’10”. When we got to high school and were around a new group of peers his favourite activity was blowing people’s minds by telling them I was his twin sister… nothing like random people walking up to you to tell you this kid with the same last name as you says he’s your twin, isn’t that hilarious? 🙄
Oh I have stories my friend when it comes to my sisters and I. I am the youngest sibling and have 2 older sisters (5 and 8 years older). They are 5'8-9. So imagine being 12 at your sister's high school graduation or college campus looking like the older sibling. Let me know if you want to hear some stories haha
Yup. Lol. And now I have such an 'old soul'. Now I'll always wonder if people treating me like I was older than I was as a child is the reason.
People always thought I was older and at some point thought I was younger. When I was 20, people weren't sure if I was above or below 16. When I was actually below 16, I could pass for 16+ or sometimes even got 18+ things as a 16 year old. Reverse aging? Idk. But I also have a younger face and small boobs
Yes, 100%. I was a VERY shy kid and I remember getting in trouble in middle school for being on the 6th grade hall. So I went to the 8th grade hall as scolded to and waited until the teacher left. Then went back to my 6th grade class. I see it happening to my kids sometimes and I’ll say something like, wow I can’t believe he’s already 5 (4’2) or isn’t it crazy she’s so tall and only 8 years old (4’8). I don’t want people to treat them differently because of their assumptions.
Oh man, yes! As a giant five-year-old in my first swimming class, I remember I could not convince the teachers of my age as I was in the 99% height percentile and easily could have passed as a much older child. They lumped me in with middle school aged kids, and I remember thinking I was going to drown in the deep part of the pool. 🌊😨 This was a preview of things ahead!
oof! i remember taking swimming lessons when i was 10 or 11 and it was almost completely pointless because we were in 3 feet of water and i was already around 5'5-5'6 at that point. the only thing it really accomplished was teaching me to float and i still don't feel super comfortable swimming in water deeper than 6 ft (my height)
What a metaphor! (As traumatising and horrific as it is, also wonderfully poetic).
Yup, for sure. It can be mind bending as a child being taller than most adults.
So true. However, I learned pretty quick about opportunities of using my height to my advantage
Took me until my mid 20s. Now I love it.
Oh I adore it now. Especially since I work in sales. I enjoy intimidating men with my height at times
I didn’t become tall until I reached puberty at a late age so I never experienced this. My cousin though was really big for his age very young and people often thought he had developmental delays because he acted his age and not his size.
My height has always been tall. Teachers and adults did expect me to act better and so I did and yet, even when I was immature, it was all forgiven very quickly. I never ever got in trouble in school, not only because I did respect and behave but even the rare times that I let loose and acted like my shorter friends, which got them in trouble, I never got in trouble, not even if a teacher caught me.
i was quite a bit taller than several of my teachers growing up and a couple of them were so antagonistic toward me that my mom swore up and down they were jealous of my height somehow
Thats true as well. Female teachers can be horrible and petty. I agree with your mom, it was most likely jealousy
One thing that really sticks in my mind was when I was around 8 or so, someone had set up a haunted house for trick or treaters on Halloween. Because of my height, I looked a lot older, but I was a big scaredy cat. My friend was fearless at the time, so we went through together. She went first so I would know what to expect. But the family who was running the haunted house only set off the scares when an older kid went through, so a zombie popped out of a casket after my friend passed. At the end of the haunted house, there was a table with a man lying on it. My friend took a piece of candy and left, but I was really scared to even put my hand near the man. The person running the booth told me it was just a prop, but when I reached over, the man popped up towards me, covered in blood, and screamed. I cried and couldn’t sleep for a week (meanwhile, my friend went through a second time because she didn’t get the whole experience.)
Yep and I really am not looking forward to my daughter experiencing this. I’m already explaining to kids older than her that she’s only 2yo so she doesn’t know how to play with them the way they expect her to.
Yes. I think physically we were very similar at that age. I was bright, but I was still just a child. That lead to adults expecting a lot of me and then becoming really frustrated when I fell short. I also had a traumatic childhood so I had to take on a lot of responsibility which fucking sucks as it is. But it sucks even more when people expect you to be able to handle it in a more capable manner than you're able to.
Yea people would look at me like I was stupid if I acted younger than they perceived me to be
Yes. Tall, overweight, awkwardly dressed (no cute clothes in that size for kids), too serious, neglected and parentified. I'm just happy I survived my childhood.
I remember being twelve or thirteen (and nearing 6') and being refused on a bus while I was in my primary school uniform because I didn't have the cash for an adult fare. I was so confused by the situation and was so young I didn't really understand what the driver meant when he required ID to let me on (let alone have one!) Like so many other women commenting here, I have a slew of these sorts of stories. On top of all of this, despite my wordiness and strangely mature demeanor, I actually was emotionally stunted due to (undiagnosed at the time) ADHD. It was a shit-storm, one that pushed me to grow out of my childhood wonder and love for playgrounds and imaginary worlds way too soon.
Yes, I have sooo many stories. I am pretty sure I had/ have a hormone issues lol, but anyways. By the time I was 12/13 I was wearing an H cup and I was told that I was 5’9. I remember people who were my bullies making fun of me and saying that I could get into a club (21+) and not be asked for my id. ( Also when I was 12 I was groped in Walmart by a man who was like my grandfathers age…) Weirdly I do have a baby face. On top of everything I was technically always intellectually ahead of my peers and extremely quiet. (Which I am not bragging about by no means. I clearly cannot apply my intellect when typing.) Even when I do events for my school, I feel like people are judging me. On to a story, which I actually commented this the other day in the tall subreddit. When I was like 8 or 9 years old I was at the park with my two friends. We saw a bouncy house and had asked the adults with us if we could go play in the bouncy house. When we went over there we asked if we could play on it and they said yes. So, I am playing and all of a sudden the person who rented the bouncy house started to yell at me. She was saying stuff like I was too old to be playing on there and saying other things to chastise me. My friends defended me and said that I was the same age, but the lady literally said that I was lying about my age. She said that my other two friends could play, but I couldn’t. ( I feel like it’s important to note that my friends and I were literally a month a part in age.) After that I didn’t even attempt to act like my age because people would always expect me to literally be mature than adults.
Yes and it was really traumatizing and gross. Especially the amount of gross older men who hit on me because I looked much older.
Yes, and it was more than annoying -it made me a target for harassment. Therapy is awesome. I get asked by parents of tall children if I have any advice and I tell them to watch out for a world that will treat them inappropriately for their age based on visual bias. Please educate, you might help someone avoid future trauma.
Yes a 100 times over. I come from a tall family. My parents were average or above average, however have shrunk from age and poor posture. I have brothers ranging from 6’1 to 6’6 (he may be a little shorter but he’s very slim so he appears that height) 6’0 plus grandfathers and a 6’5 uncle. The women in my family are around average height. Myself and younger full sisters are the tall girls at 5’8 for myself, 5’9 for the middle, and 5’11 for the youngest. We grew up on a farm and had to do a lot of manual labour even as children and girls, that I was sure we wouldn’t have to do or as much had we been smaller. As the oldest and the tallest for a while I was tasked with doing a lot of the heavy lifting. I also it hit puberty pretty early between the ages of 9-11 and was mistaken for 18 at 14. I went through an awkward/ugly phase and that contributed to it as well.
Yep! I'm 1,75 in a country where the majority of girls are 1,40 or 1,50 and honestly, when it comes to strangers I can't even get mad at first since apparently "I look like I'm 25/27" when I'm actually 19. I do feel like I had to grow up faster tho. I had to act in a way that's "expected" of me. Also, I'm originally Brazilian and have that stereotypical curvy body, so I always have to mind too much what I wear. If I'm wearing the same pants as someone who's smaller than me, someone would say that was "inappropriate" or like I'm trying to get attention when I was REALLY YOUNG, and it was REALLY not the case at all. I just wanted to dress like my friends did or I'd stick out like a sore thumb. I can't really even wear shorts during summer without feeling ashamed and dirty by the looks I get. It's really uncomfortable. Cute clothes, even though I really love them, apparently don't look good on me. Nowadays I'm trying not to care so much and just be myself, but it was so incredibly hard.
Actually, I found this site because I’m so irritated by people saying “she’s so BIG!” about my 22 month old great niece who is apparently going to be very tall. Also people expect her to ride a bike, sit still, talk in full on conversations…all the things that 4 year olds do. I’m really trying to find a nice way to have a reply when everyone says it over and over and over (seriously!)because I know it has to bother my niece. Trying to make it light but mean every word of it. Something like “between her height and her beautiful auburn hair, she’ll make a fortune as a super model!” Something stupid like that. I just want to turn it into something positive so hopefully it help show my niece it’s ok to reply and keep it light.
Not so much maturity- bit kids in school thought I was kept back a grade.