Okay, I was watching the news today and they had a segment about a mother who decided to give her daughter growth hormone injections because she
was short. She was teased apparently by other children, which in itself is wrong but it happens.
I’m sorry but I do have a problem with this. I can understand if medically something was wrong with this young girl, but because she was the shortest student and the kids teased her is no reason to go injecting God knows what into her. The doctor said they’ve been using these growth hormones for 20 years and still they don’t know everything there is to know and the long term affects are still not completely known.
What really made me upset was that the mother said, right in front of her daughter, she just wanted to give her daughter a chance to be NORMAL. Since when was being short abnormal? I felt bad for the girl, who looked to be about 7 or 8. Kids get teased for a number of things, wearing glasses, being too heavy, too skinny, flat chested, freckles, their nose is too big, their ears are too big, etc…. It’s gone on for decades and will always be an issue with young kids.
So my question is this, why should we teach our children that they need to change their looks or differences to make someone else like them? They need to be teaching them that everyone is different in so many ways and that’s okay. So she’s short, she’s also only a child with a lot of growing yet to do.
Okay that was my rant, I’m done. It really struck a cord with me and I was interested in what all of you thought about it. I didn’t do any research on it, I just watched the interview. My thoughts as a mother are this, God made you the way he intended, if you choose to change that at least wait until you are done growing.
Us Girls..Our Views 
I don’t know all the facts, but I tend to agree with you, Nikki. I wouldn’t inject a chemical into my child unless I was pretty convinced that it was necessary for her health or safety.
My kids are pretty short for their age. Last time I checked, my oldest daughter was about the height of someone 2/3 her age. My sister asked me the other day, “are you concerned that she’s not growing?” Well, she is growing – she’s just on her own curve. As I said before the girls came home: they are the way God made them; therefore, they are perfect.
Having said all that, my answer might be different if my child had a disfiguring disorder and I was pretty sure that the hormones (a) would fix the problem and (b) wouldn’t cause new problems. If the child was “extremely” short, I might look into it. After all, you want to be able to see over your steering wheel and reach the brake pedals if that’s feasible.
I have known short girls over the years, and strangely enough, they tended to be more popular than average. Certainly more popular than was I, a shy, backward girl of perfectly normal height and body shape. With my daughters, I’m more concerned about what people say around them in their formative years than what they look like. I have friends / relatives who forget that they have ears, and they will refer to “the fat [or skinny] one” or lament how dark their skin gets in the sun. Folks, if you must talk about my kids’ physical attributes, how about focusing on their gorgeous eyes, their contageous smilles, or their strength and stamina? Why must people always focus on what they consider negative? It’s not like our kids can do anything about being “non-ideal” in some people’s eyes.
This is just sick, I mean that poor kid – the fault lies with the mother, sorry to say it but jeepers!
Oh for pete’s sakes! Where’s my 2×4 of Reason? That woman needs a tap of instant intelligence.
Yet another example of how we like to drug our way out of things. Kid a bit hyper? Drug it. Kid a little short? Drug it. Feeling sad? Drugs. Of course I’m not saying that drugs are never necessary, but we just keep moving further down the path of chemical solutions. It’s gross. Yeah, it appears to be the mother’s fault, but why isn’t anyone, the doctor, the father, the grandparents, the teachers, arguing with her? Offering other solutions? Stepping in to help? It is the community allowing this to happen as well.
I agree that this is very sad. If there was something “really” wrong then maybe but for a physical attribute, sorry, no way. We all have to take our lumps in life and like Nikki mentioned, we all get teased of for something and it’s just they way life is.
I partly blame the doctors. My son has ADHD and I didn’t know much about it, the doctors said he had to take meds for it so I put him on it. It has helped tremendously although I didn’t know there were natural ways of helping him. I’ve told his Dr. that it is my mission to get him of the meds (Concerta) this summer. There are SO many different avenues I can take, I have found through the internet that the doctors never told me…of course huh?!
Urgh. Parents like that woman you described scare me. Just think how much worse the girl’s self-esteem problems are going to be now that her mother seems to be agreeing with the kids that are laughing at her!
Sadly, though, this isn’t a rare thing… So many parents push their kids to be skinnier, more athletic, more popular – it makes me sick. What happened to every parent loving their child more than anything and encouraging them to love themselves as well?!
I guess I don’t understand why we have to all be normal anyway? Why do we want a world where everyone is the same?
To be blunt it seems that this mother has enough insecurity for the both of them….sigh…
For the love of Pete! Kids not what society deems perfect? Buy some medicine, have them go under the knife. *rolls eyes*
I am short, 5’2″, and I was always the shortest kid in my class. Yes I got teased but that made me who I am today. I used my nifty little brain to make great comebacks to their stupid insults. If my mom had given me drugs to grow taller I would not have been on the front row of every class picture, people would not let me “go up front” at places so I could see.
Nikki ggod luck on getting your son off the ADHD meds. My oldest daughter has ADD. We went the med route for about half a year and that was it.
I read a quote the other day, and I wish now that I had written it down accurately, or at the very least, remembered who said it. It was something to the effect of: “The faults we see in others are those that we are most conscious of in ourselves.”
So perhaps this mom is short, herself, and therefore figures that her daughter should not be. Not that a mentality like that in any way excuses this behavior, but I like to get into people’s heads.
My approach in this situation would have been to teach my daughter to defend herself against the teasing, either by ignoring it, or turning it back on the bullies, or finding a humorous/polite/snappy comeback. Or, if the height issue was really affecting the child’s self esteem, why not enroll her in a class like Tae Kwan Do, which teaches affirmative defense, as well as building up strength and self-reliance.
Turning to drugs in this situation is a cop-out. A very dangerous cop-out.
I was the tallest in class and always got teased. Oh, and the skinniest and flat chested and wore glasses! Guess what? I grew up and so did everyone else. Are we forgetting that if we hand our children everything on silver platters they aren’t going to learn anything? This mother does need that 2×4 and so does the doc that said this was a good idea! She’s 8!!!!! LOTS of growing to do yet! It does sound like this mother has her own set of issues if she’s going to this length.
For her 15 year old birthday mommy plans on giving her breast implants.
For her 16 year old birthday mommy plans on giving her lipo suction.
For her 17 year old birthday mommy plans on giving her…..
You have to have a license in some cities to own a dog but there is no requirement to have a child!
I think this is more about the mom wanting an easy out. Instead of parenting her daughter she shoots her up with drugs.
Your so right mssc.
You are right mssc!! It makes me sick to my stomach!!
It does sound like the mom has insecurities of her own. We have all had to endure teasing, some of it downright cruel. If the girl is protected now, how will she know how to deal with the lumps life gives her in the future? And those lumps WILL come!
I’ve got to add my agreement to everyone else. As a concerned parent, I don’t even think I’d continue to take my child to a doctor who would prescribe drugs that were not medically necessary. What else might they whip out that prescription pad for?? I think, too, I would take those taunts from other kids and put them to use as a learning opportunity to try and teach my child two things. First, it really hurts when we are unkind to others with our comments, doesn’t it? And second, we can’t control how other people act or what they say–we can only control ourselves and try to set an example by how we act and talk. Better teach them now. Being teased about being short is for sure not the worst thing kids can do. Help them now before the teen years come!
I am sooooo glad you all agree that this is wrong. I think we all HERE can agree that our most important job as a parent is to teach our children that in some way or another everyone is different and that’s what makes us all so special. Accept people for who they are and what they stand for. And never ever change for someone else, if change is needed do it for yourself!
The more I think about this the more I picture every class picture that I was in from grade 4-9. I was always one of the tallest ones in the class. Looking back I looked HUGE compared to the boys in class and many girls as well.
Guess what? I never grew any taller than 5′ 4″. Everyone caught up and then went past me….
I sure hope for this girl’s sake that she isn’t naturally inclined to be a girl that will eventually ‘catch up’. That combined with the hormones given to her may be just enough to make her taller than she ever wanted to be…
ok.. very very off topic here.. but where does the picture come from? The girl to the left is .. identical!! with a girl I know. But it’s very hard to believe it would be her.
holeycheese, other than my personal photo’s, I get all of the others here:
http://www.123rf.com/
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Nikki-
You are absolutely right! Injecting the child with hormones, which is an expensive procedure (parents can pay upwards of $20,000/yr for treatment) is not the answer. Attacking the prejudice and the bullying is the right response.
Not to mention that there is no guarantee that this child will grow as a result of treatment anyway and, if so, it may be two or three inches at the most.
Maybe, someday, society will get it through it’s head that we do come in all shapes, sizes and colors and people that may be shorter don’t need medical intervention. We aren’t handicapped. All we ask is to be treated equally…that’s not asking alot!
Thanks for your comment, and you’re absolutely right. Attacking the prejudice and the bullying is the right response! I pray that it gets better with each generation but it just seems to get worse unfortunately.