Height Problem

Most people have a weight problem.  But Jacob?  He has a height problem.

He really wants to be tall.  And while just being tall would be great, he wants to be really tall, really fast.  He seriously can't get there fast enough, and will stop at nothing to make it happen sooner.

Here's the thing--he wants to play in the NBA.  That is his ultimate goal, and he pretty much won't settle for anything less.  He might settle for playing in the G-League, which is basically the NBA's minor league, or playing in Europe.  Or, whenever I plead with him to have a backup plan that isn't playing pro basketball, he says he'll be a coach.  That's not the worst plan in the world, because he's one heck of an analyst, but it still makes me a little nuts.

But, of course, most people that play in the NBA are tall.  Not everyone, mind you, as Spud Webb and Mugsy Bogues weren't much taller than me, but people under 6'3" are pretty rare nonetheless.  He's growing just fine, and will probably pass me within a year or two, but Craig is only right around six feet, and the genes on my side aren't great.  My brother is pretty tall and I have a couple tall uncles, but neither of my parents were particularly tall, and I'm definitely not.  So what does that mean for him?  The odds aren't awesome, but obviously no one knows.  And that is part of our challenge.

We went to the doctor last week for his well visit, and when the nurse measured him at 4'9" and change, he was very upset.  It seems like he's had a few different measurements over the past months, and this was shorter than most.  Someone once told him five feet even.  He's definitely not quite there, if you're using me at 5'2" as a guide.  I measured him at home and never got taller than maybe 4'10-1/2", but I think the doctor's measurement was correct.  But then he comes back with supposedly being taller than kids that say they're five feet, which confuses him further, but I'm going to guess those kids are equally confused about their height.  He can't understand how anyone could have done the measuring wrong, and if they did, obviously the shorter one was wrong.

He has gotten downright obsessive about it, and truly lost his temper over it the other day.  He refuses to believe how he's been measured.  He tries to measure himself (which we all know doesn't work).  He insists he's taller, even in the face of lots of evidence to the contrary.  We've both tried to not talk to him about it at all to avoid arguments, but that doesn't entirely work either because you don't want to send him out into the world with a delusional height perception.  He's Googling things that might make him grow (zinc and peanuts, apparently?), and even asked if he could use Pediasure since they advertise growth with that.  Seeing him obsess over it is pretty painful, and I guess now I see how even guys can fall prey to eating disorders and body dysmorphia.  Believe me, I'll be keeping an eye on him moving forward.

He's putting all of this pressure on himself to grow, which I told him would probably only cause stress that would stunt his growth.  No matter how many times we remind him that growing too fast causes problems, or that there's nothing he can do to outmaneuver his body's height potential, he just can't seem to believe it.  Just doing what he's doing--playing sports and eating well--will keep him on track to reach his full potential, but that doesn't seem to be good enough.  He's also pretty preoccupied with his health (but thankfully not really his weight).  It's good that he's making smart food choices like less candy, but he has so many years to be obsessive about junk food that I hate to see it start now.  If there's ever a time in life when you can get away with a less-than-ideal diet, it's as a kid--particularly a kid with his body type.  But he won't hear it.

He's definitely an active kid and really wants to continue to improve.  He was having a hard time hitting shots today, and has been a bit lately.  He was freaking out about his form, and no matter how I tried to encourage him that basketball camp in a couple weeks might help, he only got more upset and insisted he had to figure it out before that.  I can't help but wonder if it's the pressure to succeed, or if he's still psyched out by our hoop being a bit off (no, we haven't fixed it yet), or if his body has changed a bit since last year.  I reminded him that he was playing a lot more lacrosse at this time last year, and I could see so much definition in his arms then.  With six less days of tournament play this year, and much less focus on the sport in general, I wonder if that's having an impact.  He insists that lacrosse couldn't possibly help his basketball, but maybe it did?

I guess it has to be hard when the one thing you want to do has a physical component to it that your body may not cooperate with.  Everything about him is fixated on that goal right now, and I think he's mostly just internally freaking out that there may not be anything he can do about it, and subsequently taking it out on us.  We've reminded him before that other kids may be more skilled, but how hard he works can stand out even more.  I'm not sure that's ever been his best skill, however.  Even if he is working hard, sometimes it just doesn't look like it.  I'm not sure if that's his body, or his attempt at swagger, but either way I think it's a bit to overcome on the bad days.  But if I have ever seen him put forth a strong effort, it's been in basketball, so fingers crossed he can find it when he needs it.

But the height thing is hardcore frustrating right now.  But like most other things he fixates on, hopefully this, too, will pass.  But in the meantime, a growth spurt would be great (but if it could come before I need to buy his school uniforms, that would be even better.).