Can You Guess My Age?

You know that amusement park attraction where someone at a booth believes they can guess your weight just by looking at you? Well if there was one for guessing age, they would lose every single time they tried to guess a short person's age. I would know, because it happens to me every single day.


When I was in high school some of my friends would ask if I had ever gotten pulled over for not having a licensed  driver in the car, which I considered to be strange, because I had my drivers license, and I didn't need to drive with an adult anymore, so I asked them what they meant, and they told me that the figured I got pulled over a lot for that because I looked like I was 14.


My first two years in college, I worked for the school dining services, and people that I had classes with would come in and ask me what high school I went to. I was the shortest person on staff that wasn't elderly. Everyone else I worked with in the dining services was average height, and people recognized them as classmates, but most people assumed I was a high school student that was doing some sort of early college program.

I have noticed some short people like myself that I have had similar thoughts about in wondering how old they were. One of the girls in my choir class in college was 4 ft 11 in, and honestly she looked about 14 or 15 years old at the most.  If you are short and your face looks even remotely child like, then you will always be considered younger than you are.

Everyone I talk to says that I will be thankful for it when I am older, but for now I am not truly a fan of explaining my real age to everyone that I come in contact with. There are some perks to it though, for one thing you don't necessarily need to act your age, because almost everyone will assume that you are younger than you are.

One great perk if you ever want to work with children is that they will feel comfortable around you, because you aren't too much taller than they are. The kids in my neighborhood absolutely adore me, because I am their height, and they get really excited whenever they see me outside. Kids love it when there is an older person that is around their height that will play games like basketball, because you can dunk it, or make the shots that they can't make, because you have had a bit more experience.

If you enjoy acting younger than you really are, then being short is a major perk. You can basically be a teenager forever. You can race neighbor kids in the street, and no one even questions it, because they just assume that you are 15, and just being dumb. You can be professional and be short, for instance a teaching career is a good thing when you are short.

Short people make the cutest elementary school teachers. My mom is one of those, and she has the cutest friend that teaches that is about 4 ft 8 in, and she is absolutely darling! She teaches kindergarten and the kids really like her because she isn't a towering giant over them, which makes her more fun for the children, because they don't feel overly intimidated by her.

Being short is a great way to break the ice, because people will generally be a little more trusting towards you. Short people just seem more friendly and sociable, so people are more inclined to believe what they are saying. In my experience the short cute person gets a little further than the tall intimidating person in life.

I have done a little marketing while I have been in college, and generally I didn't have to do very much to get a client or make a sell. I just tell them what the offer is, and that's really it. Sometimes I don't even really dress nice. Honestly I have shown up in a Superman T-shirt, a pair of jeans with my hat on backwards, and because I am short and adorable it worked out well in my favor.

So if you are like me and no one can say how old you are without you telling them, then just go with it and have some fun with it, because after all people are always wishing that they were younger, and you have cracked the code. Granted it takes a little more work for people to take you seriously, but you can also use your youthful looks to your advantage.
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