How much does a child’s height depend on the height of his or her parents? The final height that children who grow up in a good living environment reach as adults depends to a large extent on the height of their parents. Generally children of tall parents are taller and children of short parents are shorter. The growth potential of a child’s height is closely related to the average height of his or her parents; if the father and mother are of similar height, the child’s height is very close to the average height of the parents; however, if one parent is tall and one is short, the child’s height is very close to the average height of the parents. However, if one parent is tall and one is short, the child’s height can vary greatly. When determining whether a child has a growth abnormality, it is important to consider the effect of parental height on the child’s height. A child in the 3rd percentile of height may be growing perfectly normally if his parents are also short; however, if his parents are tall, there is clearly something wrong with his growth. The height of siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts and uncles can have some reference value when considering a child’s growth potential, but the farther away from the genetic relationship, the smaller the influence.