How does being short affect a child's social and psychological development? What do you remember about being short when you were in grade school? How did your height affect your school experience, your friendships and romantic inclinations and adjustment later on in life?
Male, 40's - 5'5". Like others, the hardest years were junior high. I'll admit upfront I've carried some bad experiences I've had with me, sometimes as "chips on my shoulders". Experiences like being pushed in to a wall at the mall by dudes with big egos to entice laughter or impress their dates. No, not a high school experience, it happened in my mid-20's. But the names hurt worse than that wall ever did. Very creative names that I won't repeat. Bad experiences weren't limited to direct interaction. Sometimes classmates assumed I didn't do well in sports, so there was no point in asking me to the ball field after school. Forget dance parties, no confidence there, I skipped the rejection/ embarrassment and stayed home. But the worst was hearing "wow - you're small", not just from kids, but from adults. You hear "you're small" enough times year after year and one can start to believe they are truly "less" of a person, and retreat from many social opportunities. Seriously folks, I really don't think it takes an advanced psych. class to understand how that can impact a person's self image, for perhaps a lifetime. To help understand this problem, replace the words "you're small" (above) with "you're fat" or "you're ugly". Does that help clear things up? Believe it or not, I have worked to put the past behind me and have lived a mostly normal life, but I do get reminded once in a while of the painful past. Even in my 40's, many successful business relationships tend to gravitate towards my 6'3" co-worker quite easily."He's big and tall, so he must be the one in charge", right? Coincidence, or is it the same old "you aren't like me, so I'll stick to my type" mentality? We are not supposed to judge people by race, age, religion, disability, etc, so why would judging by size be acceptable to society? I believe it will take a complete generation of new people to get past the "bigger is better" and "tall, dark, and handsome" measure of man. Maybe in 100 yrs