The highs and lows of growing up tall

Towering over your classmates is no fun, says Joanne Christie In school photographs I was always in the same spot: back row, middle, between the boys. I couldn't sit daintily with the other girls in the front row because I was too tall and I would have obscured the view of those in the middle.

   As a child, I felt like a giant. I was always at least a head taller than other girls in my class and I towered over the boys until secondary school, when they finally started to catch up. If there was ever a moment when I managed not to think about my height for five minutes, another person was on hand to say, "Oh my gosh, you're so tall," or ask me about the weather "up there".

Many of the experiences of being a little girl are lost on taller girls. Because of my height, I was often cast as a boy in school plays or in dance classes. However juvenile the schoolyard dating scene may be, everyone still wants to be included in the merry-go-round of one-week relationships that begin with a peck on the cheek and end when the love of your life starts pulling another girl's hair. But if pecking you on the cheek calls for a boy to stand on a chair, they are much less inclined to do so.

It's not often I read stories about celebrities and think: "I can relate to that." But when models such as Tyra Banks talk about feeling out of place due to their tall, lanky appearance during their formative years, I get it.

So does 14-year-old Rosie Blott. The year 10 student says her height was a big problem during primary school, though she's started to feel better about it now, largely due to the fact that at 5ft 8in she appears to have stopped growing. "I used to feel like an elephant," she says. "At school they would call me a giant. I always wanted to be a small, skinny girl instead." At times, it was more than just self-consciousness; at one school she was bullied by other children. "I could never have girly shoes and the other girls were a bit bitchy at my last school. They all had these pairs of Kickers, they were really petty and they used to have a club and say: 'You can't come in, because you're too tall and your feet are too big'," she recalls.

Like Rosie, I also had to wear ugly boy's shoes and to this day I rarely wear heels lest I tower over people even more. But there are even worse things than unfashionable shoes, says nine-year-old Monet Jean-Charles. Monet, who is already a women's size seven, had to spend the last school year wearing shoes with thick soles that she could barely walk in because they were the most suitable ones she could find.

"I kept slipping over in the big chunky shoes. It is quite hard to shop for school shoes now because usually shops have got little sizes, not big sizes like mine," says the year five student, who is head and shoulders above most of her classmates at 5ft 2in.

Child psychologist Margaret McAllister says having to wear different clothes and shoes can exacerbate a child's feelings of being out of place with their peers. Parental management is vital, she says. "It is important for parents to help a child understand that there are many differences between people and that height is just one of the more obvious ones. It is important to encourage children to be happy in their own skin and to accept themselves as they are."

McAllister says the stereotypical view that boys should be taller than girls can make it tough for tall girls, but tall boys also face problems. "A tall boy may be treated as if he is expected to be tough and get into fights, which may not suit his temperament at all. That can cause quite a lot of inner conflict." Thirteen-year-old Joe Hillary, who stands taller than most year eight boys at 5ft 10in, sees being tall as an advantage, although he does worry that others may perceive him as threatening. "Kids don't bully me, but sometimes I think I make them scared because I'm taller than them and I'm looking down at them," he explains.

Joe wouldn't have scared me at 13, though. At 5 ft 11 in, I'd already reached my maximum height, outgrowing both of my parents in the process. In school I was very self-conscious - after all, you always stand out when you're tall - and desperately wanted to be smaller.

Though I never believed adults when they told me one day I'd be happy I was tall, I have to grudgingly admit they were right. Outside the schoolyard, it turns out there are plenty of tall men - my own husband is 6ft 2in. And although buying clothes is still sometimes a chore, look on the bright side: most of them are designed to look better on a woman with long legs