Children's Height Charts

Height charts can often be good indicators of growth patterns in children. Study of height is known as auxology. Height of a child is affected by a combination of factors like age, sex, diet, amount of exercise and environment. However, most important of all is the genetic make up of a child. Normally, a significantly malnourished child demonstrates stunted growth, as has been shown by various studies. Also often, heights vary according to the population in question, for example, the average height of children in U.S.A. will vary when compared with the average height of children in Africa. Additionally, the importance of physical activity for children cannot be underestimated when it comes to their height growth.

Often, a child's height chart is used to correlate with a weight chart so that, in the end a height-weight chart is formulated. This is used to check if the growth rate of a child falls within a certain normal range or not. A large range exists in heights and weights of children and hence, the growth rate is found by comparing with percentiles. These percentiles are formulated for different populations after extensive studies. The predefined range is found after analyzing data taken from at least a thousand boys and girls of every specified age.

Creative Ideas for Children's Height Charts

Various innovative height charts for children are available in the market today. These can act as a nice means of colorfully decorating rooms, by putting them up behind doors, or on the bedroom walls, or even in the bathroom! Often, there are custom made height charts also available in stores today, to cater to children and parents, depicting their favorite fairy tale or cartoon characters. They are also available in different measuring parameters like inches, centimeters, feet, etc. They also make great birthday gifts or gifts which can be given on any occasion! Imagine the sheer glee on a child's face when she is presented with a height chart that depicts Snow White or Sleeping Beauty! Some of them even come with empty slots which can be marked with dates to keep a tab on the growth, while others have photo frames to accommodate pictures of the family. There is no dearth in how innovative these charts can get!

These height charts can also be used as a good impetus to get children to eat healthy food, like milk and whole grains, which will help in their growth (which otherwise would be an uphill task to get them to do!). It's also a convenient way of checking for a starkly visible growth slowdown in a child. However, on the flip side, parents need to be cautious while using their child's height chart, as a small slowdown in growth should not send them in a tizzy regarding their child's development. As such, a tall stature or short stature is not necessarily a very valid indicator of growth, and thus should not be taken as an alarming health sign. A sudden increase in growth is often seen in children during their growth spurts, which vary for males and females (with the spurts coming earlier in case of females). Thus, these could be ideal times for children to catch up on height. Read more on how much should I weigh for my height?

Children's height charts make great gifts for all occasions, and are often found in most children's bedrooms today. So go out there and grab your custom made children's height chart today!