Sizing shoes is an important part of parenthood. There will be many stages of foot growth to address in your daughter’s life. From early childhood to the young adult you’re going to address many frustrated moments making sure her feet are appropriately attired for whatever occasion.

Frustrating? Yes frustrating. Aside from the fact that your youngest daughter is looking for the shoe with the latest cartoon craze imprinted on it or your tween has sworn off pink for her post elementary school career and can’t find something adult in the child shoe isle, you’re faced with making sure the manufacturer hasn’t wandered away from standard sizing procedures to make your life difficult. Maybe shopping for swimsuits isn’t so bad after all.

The first rule of thumb is to purchase shoes by how they fit, not by the size. Size these days in everything from shoes to apparel is just a number and in many cases depending on the manufacturer and style the number has no bearing on comfort or actual fit.

Next know it is all about having a little toe wiggle room. Your daughter needs about ¾ of an inch of wiggle room from the end of her big toe to the tip of her shoe. After meeting the need of length giving proper attention to the toes, focus on the widest part of her foot, the ball of the foot. Once comfort is met in those two areas make sure that the heal is just a bit snug. Overall her foot, including the toes should all rest flatly on the shoe, no toes bent and poking up on the top of the shoe.

A young child cannot tell you how well a shoe really fits so it is very important to follow these simple guidelines. Your daughter’s feet will continue to grow until she is about 20 years old. A proper fit will help her to avoid foot problems. When she is young her feet are flexible enough to fit in shoes too small without easily noticing discomfort.

On the topic of your older daughter making the switch to women’s shoes whether for proper fit or style consideration, a girl’s size 4 shoe is equivalent to a woman’s size 6 shoes. (So a 3.5 girl’s would be a 5.5 woman’s). A little tip for buying in men’s sizes is that the men’s shoe size runs smaller so a woman’s size 7 shoe would be a man’s size 5 shoe etc.

Whatever the size, whatever the style, remember one thing…it is fun to shop with your daughter!