Sunday, August 22, 2021

Tall Begets Tall

When Sha and the kids were in Kingston last week, they visited their cousins. Matthew (left) is more our second daughter's age and spent part of two summers visiting us way back when. At 6' 7" he's the tallest person in the extended family.

Danica and Jonathan have met with Rosie and Lukas (right in both pics) several times, but when they last met, Lukas wasn't quite this ... um ... elevated.


Lukas is just 14 years of age, same as Danica. Danica is 5'8", definitely not short, but look at the difference in the photo. Lukas will be going into grade 9 in a few weeks. In 30 years of teaching, I never taught a grade 9 student of his height. In fact, save for possibly one senior student, he might be taller that any former student. I am told that he is almost as tall as Dad already. In Grade 9!!!

His mother is tall. I am almost 6'2" or used to be, and she has height on me, so it is fair to say that tall begets tall.

Look up JJ. ↓↓ Look way up. (Canadians of  certain age will know where I got those sentences.)


But short can also beget tall. This was me with my parents and uncle on my wedding day. This was my whole extant family at the time, and Uncle Charlie (left) only lived for two more years.


Dad's dad, Grandpa Rayner, was even shorter than Dad who maxxed at 5' 4".


Grandma Phillis Rayner wasn't a giant, either.


My grandfather Quinlan wasn't short, but I am guessing that he topped out at 5' 10".  Grandmother Quinlan was another shortie.


So, there you have it. Tall begets tall, but sometimes, short also begets tall, just not typically as tall as tall begets tall.



13 comments:

Marcia said...

My husband is 6'3" and I'm just under 5'3". Both our daughters are shorter than I am. Short genes were dominant in our case.

Barbara Rogers said...

Nature vs. nurture...start with genes, then feed 'em good! And boys do grow higher than most girls. I noticed your legs in your last post and said they forecast a tall man. So it goes. Glad to see there are lots of tall as well as short people. Short people do some things better, but seldom get credit. I wonder what they are.

Karen said...

I come from a very short family. Dad was five foot four, Mum was five foot. Us female offspring are all pretty short. The male cousins coming in mostly five foot six to five foot eight. Then the grandkids! WHOOEEE.....the grandsons are all TALL! My ex husband was five foot four, I'm five foot. Two of our grandsons (with a father not tall either) are over six foot. The third grandson is around five foot ten. My eldest daughter once dated a dairy farmer who claimed it is all the milk in the modern diets.
BUT, here's the tricky wrench in the story. We discovered my absentee grandfather was TALL. Much taller than his siblings apparently. There are often hidden bits of DNA that jump up and say "HI!"

Mage said...

Glad you found a new keyboard. And yes, you were a cute little boy with the visiting cats.
Height: I had a grandma at 5' 10",. but her daughter my mother was only 5' 4". I grew up to be able to look down on her at 5' 9". I so enjoy looking at your tall family.

Red said...

People grow much taller these days. I think the food we eat has made a difference.

William Kendall said...

I'm six feet tall. My younger brother is a shade taller than I am, but between us we're the tallest in the immediate family.

Marie Smith said...

You have wonderful family photos! Treasures!

Rita said...

I'm 5'1" but my son is about 6'. Wasn't from my side--LOL! We're all short. Tallest person in the immediate family on my side is about 5'6". I thought there was this rumor that Swedes are supposed to be tall--LOL!

Joanne Noragon said...

Most men in my family are tall, six to six and a half feet. My oldest daughter married into a family of shorter men. When their son was a baby, he crawled over to me and pulled himself up my leg, hand over hand. His head came to my knee and he was barely 12 months. I commented he would be a tall one, and his father said, firmly, "There are no tall men in the family!" And both my daughter and I said he simply had not met the tall men, who were deceased. And, that little boy towers over his father (hahaha!), and is more than six feet.

Margaret said...

DNA is a funny thing. My brothers were all on the tall side, but I'm shortish. One of my cousins is tall and married a tall guy and all her kids are very tall, including her daughter who is 6'4.

Tabor said...

Those are tall people. I would think it is hard to just accept such changes in your body when those around you are not changing as fast or as much! Hope they keep their good posture.

DJan said...

Love these old photo. And gosh he sure is tall! I wonder if he will keep growing any more than he already has. :-)

MARY G said...

Interesting! My youngest grandkid can now look her father in the eye. Growth patterns are fascinating.