# Are you taller than your gender equal parent? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729 "2016-06-29T18:31:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/21 "2016-06-29T21:35:18Z")
Two inches taller than my mom–5’ 4" and 5’2". My mom and most of her sisters, and grandma too when she was still alive, were all small women. It made me feel tall hanging around them. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/22 "2016-06-29T21:36:18Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Mom 5’2" > > Me & Brother 5’8" > > Dad 6’ I’ll admit it: I’m the kind of guy who’d have a complex if my sister were the same height as me (which is odd, since I’m not intimidated by taller women otherwise). Which one of you is older? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/23 "2016-06-29T22:00:50Z")
My father is just a shade under 6 feet. I am 5’10. Mother is 5’5, little sister is 5’3. On the other hand, other traits are mixed up. I have my fathers physique mother’s skin tone and face. My sister has fathers hair, my grandfathers eyes and my mothers physique. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/24 "2016-06-29T22:57:03Z")
Female. I’m the shortest person in my immediate family and I think the shortest in the rest. My mom is 5’9". My sister is 5’10". My dad is 6’2". (Btw, all the wome in his family are very tall.) I’m 5’6" if I stand up very straight. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/25 "2016-06-29T23:42:47Z")
Male and significantly shorter than my father. I’m pretty close to the exact average of my 5’4" mother and 6’3" father at a hair over 5’9". ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/26 "2016-06-29T23:45:40Z")
Male, 6’0", shorter than my 6’4" Dad, who in turn was shorter than his 6’6" dad. My mom and my dad’s mom were both short-to-average women. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/27 "2016-06-29T23:50:17Z")
I was the same height as my father, a little over 6’1" approaching 6’2" in the morning, but he may have shrunk just a bit once he got over 60 so now I am just barely taller but we have the same build. My mother is fairly tall for a woman at a little over 5’8". When we built our house when I was a child, the contractor was wise enough to build things like cabinets and sinks higher than normal because he assumed, correctly, that all of us, including the kids, would be well above the average height. My father’s father (my grandfather) however was over 6’3" which was unusually tall for someone raised in the 1920’s. My ex-wife is about average height for a woman but she has some shorties in her family. One of my daughters is very tall for her age and the other very short (but extremely athletic). Those height genes float around in families in strange ways. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/28 "2016-06-30T00:37:44Z")
> [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > I’ll admit it: I’m the kind of guy who’d have a complex if my sister were the same height as me (which is odd, since I’m not intimidated by taller women otherwise). Which one of you is older? He’s 2 years older. I am freakishly large and he’s utterly normal. We used to share shoes and shirts in high school (I’m tomboyish). ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/29 "2016-06-30T00:48:54Z")
I don’t know if I’d call 5-foot-8 “freakishly large” for an adult woman (or “utterly normal” for an adult man), but I get the point. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/30 "2016-06-30T00:54:50Z")
Yes. My father was 6 feet tall, while I’m 6’3". ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/31 "2016-06-30T01:22:26Z")
My dad is 6’2", and mom was 5’4". I didn’t get as tall as either, though I’m only about 1/2" shorter than mom was. If you do all the math tricks to figure out how tall a kid will be, I should be around 5’7" - I mysteriously completely stopped growing at age 2, gaining no weight and no height, much to the concern and confusion of my parents and doctor, and eventually started again once I was 4. I figure that’s where the missing inches went… they never did figure out what hit the metaphoric pause button on my growth because with the exception of chronic ear infections I was otherwise healthy. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/32 "2016-06-30T01:25:16Z")
> [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > I don’t know if I’d call 5-foot-8 “freakishly large” for an adult woman (or “utterly normal” for an adult man), but I get the point. Yeah that is not abnormally tall for a woman, you’re absolutely right. I’m much taller than any other woman on my mom’s side so compared to them I am freakishly large. Also I have huge hands and feet so that is more that I was saying. And I didn’t want to imply that I think 5’8" guys are short 🙂 My brother is the spitting image of mom’s dad. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/33 "2016-06-30T01:47:11Z")
My dad and both brothers are taller than me. My 18 year old son is my height; my 15 year old is a ouple of inches taller. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/34 "2016-06-30T01:52:39Z")
My dad was 6’0, and my mom 5’7". My brothers are 6’2" and 6’4", and my sister was 5’6". I’m 5’4". I don’t know what happened. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/35 "2016-06-30T02:16:46Z")
My father and brother were/are about 5’8", and my mother was about 5’2". I’m about 5’10". And then there’s my husband, who is 6’10". Nobody else in his large family is over about 5’9", including grandparents. I think he’s just a freak mutation. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/36 "2016-06-30T02:28:28Z")
I’m about 5’10, my father was about 5’7" or 8". I think my mother is about 5’5". One of my brothers is about my height, another is about 6’0", and my other two brothers are about my father’s height. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/37 "2016-06-30T02:28:32Z")
My father is 5’7 and I’m 5’8. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/38 "2016-06-30T03:16:36Z")
My father reached 6’2" at his tallest. By the time I blew by him on my way to 6’3" he had shrunk a bit, but I still had him beat no matter which way you sliced it. For the record my mom never made it past 5’4". I married a woman who is 4’11"…our son is a couple of inches shorter than me, our daughter (adopted) topped out at 4’10". I like to say that none of the four of us have a height beginning with a 5. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/39 "2016-06-30T05:52:47Z")
Both my parents were around 5’6" or 5’7". I’m 6’3" My adult son is 6’2" and my paternal grandfather was 6’0". Work that mess out, the height seems to go up and down alternatively by generation. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729/40 "2016-06-30T07:14:27Z")
My mother barely topped 5 feet. I am 5’3". My daughter, however, is 5’1". [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-taller-than-your-gender-equal-parent/758729.md?page=3)