Siblings are bad for your health

[altariel]

"Having an older sibling, particularly a brother, can stunt growth, work suggests..." More here.

Boy, tell me about it. (Being "the youngest of six children, which familial position has bred within her a blend of determination, fatalism and misanthropy that should warm the heart of any child".)

Seven foot tall I'd be, if I hadn't had all those bloody brothers.

Comments

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Surprised they didn't look at hormone levels. It's already known that having a lot of older brothers makes you more likely to be gay. I suspect something similar here.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It's already known that having a lot of older brothers makes you more likely to be gay.

I didn't know that.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Is that true if you're a boy or a girl, or just for boys?

[crossbow1.livejournal.com]

Huh. There were four kids in my family: Us older two are 5'5" and the younger two are 6'2".

[altariel.livejournal.com]

There's no justice.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

You were the first person I thought of on reading that story...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-D

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

So that is why I never achieved my aspiration of being taller than my sister! I am the shortest among my siblings, though only next-youngest. I suppose my younger brother being male (duh!) makes up for being younger than me in the length-race, though he is shorter than my older brother...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

But in our family we get taller with decreasing age! There are only three of us, but still.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I wish that had happened in my case...!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I wish it had happened normally with us! My sister and I were often assumed to be twins as we were exactly the same height right through school.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Someone once asked me and my sister if we were twins: we both have bright red hair and wear glasses. Only she is 11 years my senior!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

We're auburn and blonde, so people thought we were two-egg twins, like a bright ginger and blonde set we played with a lot. I'm now taken as much younger than Jenni because she has kids. ;-)

I was sorry for another set of twins we were at school with. One was very tall (she had to carry ID to get school student bus fares), bushy-haired, and clever. The other was short, straight-haired, and a year behind. We hated being compared (I was always being told how pretty Jenni was, and she had my academic record rubbed in) but it must have been so much harder for them.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It's very strange how people seem to have that urge to make comparisons and categorize, as if they want people to be organized tidily. My two sisters (who are close in age) were always contrasted as the good one and the bad one.

[paranoidangel]

But me and my sister are both the same height and both more than an inch below average height! That's not a good enough excuse for me :)

(mind you, mum's even shorter, but that's not the point)

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

As an only child, I think I must have been squashed by evil trolls sitting on my head while I was asleep.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Hmm, sounds like the billy goats gruff weren't doing their duty.

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

It's what I got for hiring three goats to do a wizard's job :)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yep, but then you weren't half as cute as you are, eh?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-D

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Boo to brothers. Explains why I'm the shortest in my family (by half an inch).

When you are Empress Of All Things, you could decree that everyone has to stand in a ditch.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Or kneel. They can all kneel.

[avon7.livejournal.com]

I would have thought it was probably the whapping over the head that would do it... Mind you it doesn't really work for us - eldest sister is the shortest by a fraction, two brothers both taller (naturally), next sister slightly taller than me (fraction of a fraction) and then me slightly taller than eldest, slightly shorter than second sister.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I remember many occasions like this (only with fewer swords).

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

But you are seven foot tall! Just not literally.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Aww!

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

I particularly liked:

Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, an expert in epidemiology and public health at Imperial College London, said the environment of the womb might be important.

"We know that when women have had a number of pregnancies, they are likely to put on weight and their blood sugar levels can become poorer, and this may have effects on the foetus growing in the womb.

Poorer? Huh? You just don't see meaningful adjectives in academic studies these days... :-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I suppose it's better than having a refined sugar level...?!

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

:-)

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

*gasp* - they SQUISHED you!

(Although, I have two younger brothers, whom I squished aplenty, and they are both now taller than me! Universe is not fair.)

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

But you're not so short - just concentrated.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

And only in it for the spiffy boots.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Especially the platform ones.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm dazzled by the glittering tinsel of glamrock!

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

The notion of a seven-foot-tall altariel is actually quite disturbing. For some reason I'm getting lots of leather breastplates and destroying Tokyo.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

But all done in the best possible taste!