Guest post by "Rachel"
I had the opposite problem. I started school at age eight, but in the second grade rather than third, because my mom didn't consider me ready for that grade. Therefore, I was a year older than everyone else, but on average about three inches shorter and stick-thin. I was so insecure about my size that I would make *weekly* trips to the nurse's office to get my height and weight checked. Add not being particularly masculine to being so small, and it's no surprise that I was a "bully magnet." I just wanted to be big enough to beat them up so they'd leave me alone....=(