In South Korea, parents are stretching the limits in an effort to make their kids taller. Fearful that being short will result in discrimination and difficulty finding a spouse in the future, parents are sending their kids to growth clinics to undergo acupuncture, aromatherapy, special stretching exercises and expensive growth hormone shots.
As Western ideas of beauty and success become more popular in Asia, parents worry that their short children will be ostracized when they get older. “In our society, it’s all about looks,” said Seo Hye-kyong, 35, who spends $770 a month on treatments for her 5-year old daughter and 4-year old son. “I’m afraid my daughter is shorter than her peers. I don’t want her to be ridiculed and lose self-confidence because of her height.
Maybe I don’t really understand what it’s like to be short since my brother and I are pretty tall for our family (he’s 6’2″ and I’m 5’6″,) but this really seems kind of silly. And who knows if these herbal remedies and stretching exercises will really work?
Read the full article here.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
what ever happened to “your beautiful, just the way you are..”
also.. i havent taken biology in a while.. but i think puberty still plays an effect on people later on..
WAH!!! That’s scary.
hahahaha omg I always wanted to be taller… not a lot, just enough to fit into regular pants without having five inches at the bottom. lol. I remember i asked my mom when i was growing up if she could send me to the hospital so i could get a magic pill to make be taller. those kids in the pic kind of look like their are on a medieval rack though….
this. is. nasty. i’m ashamed of the koreans! a little too extreme for little kids. probly hurts them! ya THINK?!
why are they doing that? it’s like their kids only is 5’5 or something.
I am a 15 year old girl and 5’8 and most of the girls in my class are taller than me.. But i’m from Norway so it’s pretty normal.