Nobody can believe how old my son is, so I lie.
My son’s small for his age. He always has been. All my kids are on the smaller side but Brandon is just so little.
He’s my youngest and as a baby he suffered from reflux. He also has a number of food intolerances and as a result is an incredibly fussy eater.
When he was three people thought he was two. When he was four people thought he was three. Now that he’s about to turn five, people still think he’s three or four. He’s meant to be starting school next year but I don’t think I can send him.
So I lie to people. I say he’s four. When people ask how old he is I say four and there are no looks of horror, although they comment on how little he is. If I tell them he’s almost five they always say something like, “No way, he’s so little”.
And then everyone’s a bloody doctor. “Feed him more pasta”, “Give him full cream milk”. What, they don’t think I haven’t tried a million things already?
I go a step further. I let him eat whatever he wants, anything to put some weight on, anything to help him grow, but he only eats around six or seven foods in total and turns his nose up at anything else.
His doctor isn’t too worried because he is putting on some weight, just a little, but he’s way below where he should be.
I’m pretty sure I’m going to hold him back from school and he can start when he’s six, but I’m not sure how much bigger he’ll be. He’s always had a lot of trouble putting on weight and I’m not expecting any miracles.
His pre-school says he’s ready to start school, socially and academically he’s doing well, he’s just as big as his school backpack would be. He’s just too little. I’m worried he’d just get lost in the crowd.
My husband says I’m wrong and I should let him start school with all of his friends, but he’ll make new friends, right? Then I have another year to try and help him to grow more, if he ever does.
Is it normal that I lie about my son’s age? Should I hold him back from school just because of his size?
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