Own it

So I recently took my youngest in for a yearly check up with her doctor since she had just celebrated a birthday. I wasn’t surprised to find out that she was in the 97th percentile for height and the look on her doctor’s face when she showed me the chart was no surprise to my daughter who knows she has shot up significantly from last year’s appointment. These days, that’s the same look everyone gives my tall and skinny 5th grader. Look of shock, especially when she’s standing next to them. Now, she just expects it when adults start their sentences off with “WOW!” And then before they finish describing how tall she’s getting, she’s already giving them a polite smile but inside she’s rolling her eyes.

I know exactly what she feels and went through the same ordeal when I was her age, so I just give her a hug later after each of those conversations and sarcastically ask her, “Gee, honey, did you realize how tall you’re getting?” To which she responds, “Really? I had no idea!” And then we laugh and move on. I agree that it is a bit shocking how much she has grown in such a short amount of time, but this is the age where kids do that and will continue to for the next couple years. Plus, she was never my petite kid anyway, always in sizes older than her age, so it doesn’t surprise me at all how tall she is getting.

And, secondly, she’s MY kid so why wouldn’t she have a chance at being tall. I always enjoy when folks are taken back by her height and carry on about it to her like it’s some sort of oddity, when I’m standing right beside her with my giant 5’10” self. “I just can’t believe how tall you’re getting?” they keep repeating with their eyes wide open, to which I so badly want to shake my head and say, “I know, right?! I just don’t know where she gets it! It’s just SO weird!! We should probably get her in right away for some medical tests or sign her up for the circus or something! Cause WOW!”

But I don’t say anything. Just smile and put my arm around her and tease that she’s trying to pass up her dad. And I should clarify that no one is ever intentionally wanting to hurt her feelings or meaning it in a negative way, so she doesn’t take it personal, but as a young girl that already feels awkward and uncoordinated and goofy, everyone gasping at her unusual height kinda makes her feel like a big, giant weirdo.

So my only advice to her, aside from my usual sarcastic cracks, is to Own It! Own who you are and how God made you! I spent most my teenage years wishing I was shorter and not towering over everyone, always self-conscious about my height. Not till my college days did I finally accept my height and was more proud of it, than ashamed. My hope is that my tall and scrawny little girl will take those comments she gets from adults and proudly say “Thank you!” and accept that she’s tall and make the best of it! Maybe her height will take her places someday and lead to amazing things for her? Who knows? Or…..maybe in a couple years she’ll level off and everyone else will shoot past her, but for now, I ask her to walk with her head high and a smile on her face and Own It!