Yikes! When do kids stop growing?

[Elm in NJ]

I just bought size 30x32 pants for my 12 year old son. He is already 5ft 10in. Tall but skinny. Of course, genetics is playing a huge part in all this, poor thing!! I am 5ft 11in and dh is 6ft 1 in. Add to all this, he is an introvert and one of those 'quirky' and sensitive kids, the poor dear is just having a really rough time at the moment. And because he is black, people automatically assume that he plays basketball and that he is good at it. He hates basketball and gets upset by this. He does play rec. soccer which he is also not very good at(our kids all have to play a sport) but he is more of a cuddling up with 5 books including encyclopedias guy, so he doesn't fit in with the typical stereotype.

Elmeryl

[susie in tx]

I had a friend in 6th grade who was exactly as you describe your son. I think he had a size 13 foot. Oddly enough, he was the tallest in the class and I was the smallest, but we were the best of friends. He didn't grow much in height after that year, but I did lose track of him once we got to junior high.

Kids grow at different rates and at different times. I can't say that your son will be done growing, but I feel for you. I can't imagine how much food your son must eat!

[PariSarah]

It's hard when the first thing people see about you is your outside.

He sounds like a fine young man. The girls will be eating. it. up. in just a few years.

I had two friends in high school who were 6 ft tall. Girls. Neither one into basketball, although they both eventually got the hang of volleyball. Anyway, one of them got in with the drama club, and people stopped asking her about sports and started talking to her about acting instead. Did wonders with her self-image.

[Mrs. H.]

He was still growing after he enlisted in the Marines. I think he topped out at 6'3" and a size 14 shoe. He eats like a horse, and I think my oldest ds is going to be the same way. He already has huge feet, and he's only 7. This extra growing is odd for me, because I stopped growing at 15 and I'm only 5'3".