Charles: Bobby is having problems at school. It seems that due to his small size the older and bigger kids are picking on him.
Susan: I know, he told me. Unfortunately the accumulations of these negative social experiences could have a long lasting effect on his self-esteem.
Charles: Yes, some of the things these bigger kids are doing to him are humiliating and they are making him feel impotent, the experience is damaging his self esteem. We need to do something about it.
Susan: I went to visit his school teacher but there is nothing she could do, since the other kids bother him outside the classroom when there is no one around.
Charles: Bobby is starting to feel ashamed. He feels worthless and thinks that there is something deeply wrong with him as a person. Unfortunately these feelings of inferiority are very difficult to eradicate latter on.
Susan: We need to act now. I asked his two older cousins to go and get him after school so that he doesn’t feel alone after classes; I’ll go and get him if necessary.
Charles: We need to work with him so that he can develop his social skills, also I can sign him up at the gym and I already talked to the instructor; he will start working out next Monday. I will help him with the subjects he is having problems at school and we’ll go jogging together in the late afternoon four days a week.
Susan: A good idea will be to look into new schools for next semester. We should find one where kids are less aggressive and more friendly. We ought to motivate him so that he invites his friends home and help him establish a healthy social life. It’s very important for him to build a healthy personality at this age. One can’t do that without having healthy feelings and a good self-esteem with pride. I am not planning to give up on him. The goal is to make him an autonomous and self-confident human being and in order to do that we need to strengthen his social skills & emotional intelligence along with his body & intellect among other things. Good healthy emotions & cognitive structures are at the root of a happy confident person.
My 7-year-old son reading skills place him at the 95th percentile, but his size ranks him at only the 10th percentile. He has little interest or ability in athletics, and usually chooses girls or younger kids as playmates.
Some of his relatives are also below average height, and some are above. His brother was very small until age 16 or 17 and is now 6 feet tall. We're hoping he has a similar growth spurt at some point.
We're trying to do all the things these parents recommend.