\Speaking of Shoe Size...

Updated on May 13, 2013
L.L. asks from Austin, MN
17 answers

My mom had me measure my eight year old's foot so she could buy her some shoes. So, okay, 8.5 inches, no problem. Then my mom called back and said no way were her feet that large, because HER feet are only 9 inches. So I measured my own foot...nine inches...and called my daughter back in to measure her foot. OOOooh-kay...8.5 inches.

So, she just turned 8. She wears a size 4, I wear a size 8...is there seriously less than an inch separating those sizes? Then we put our feet up to each others, and while her feet are much more narrow...sure enough, it looks like our feet are pretty much the same length.

So I'm wondering if I'm breeding a giant, or what's going on here. ;) What size shoes do your girls wear and how old are they? Thanks!!

(Sorry, dumb question, I know...just curiosity. Oh, and my just 3 year old's feet are 6 inches. I know, what a day, huh? Hee hee. I need to wash my ruler.)

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So What Happened?

She is 4'2", or 50"...I don't know, is that tall? It doesn't seem to be. My 3 year old is 3'3" or 39", and wears a 10.

Wow, what an interesting conversation! Thanks for all the feedback, ladies. I measured again...yes, my foot is exactly nine inches, and although I used to wear a 7, after my two kids I now need an 8 for the width, mostly. ;) I am going to take her shoe shopping and see if she can wear a ladies 6!

Featured Answers

J.W.

answers from St. Louis on

She will probably end up about the same size as you. My older daughter, well I can't really remember but she is an adult now and is a size nine to my size eight. She also has bigger hands than me but we are the same height.

Genna, little one, is a size seven in womens, so a size smaller than me, she is five ft and will be lucky if she hits 5'4.

I guess I just don't see shoe size as being a matrix for anything else. My husband is 6'2 and size 11. My ex is 5'8, same as me, and he is 11. My older son is six foot even and a size 11..... Younger son is 14 and a size nine, he is 5'8 but will probably end up 6 +.
_____________________________
Just an FYI it subtract two sizes for men's shoe sizes, but not women. Children's sizes, both male and female are on the same scale as adult women but for some reason men's shoes are different. So a women's eight is a men's six.

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J.B.

answers from Boston on

In adult women's shoes, each size is 1/4 of an inch. So a 1/2 in difference in foot size would equal 2 sizes. That said, a 9-inch foot in standard US sizes would be a 5 or 6 (depending on the chart), not an 8. So it may be that you foot is very wide or is actually longer than 9 inches? I wear a size 10 and my foot is 10.25 inches long. A size 8 women's shoe is for a 9.75 inch foot.

When looking at a kids' size chart, the scale is more granular in that a half-size difference might only be one-tenth or two-tenths of an inch. According to a child's shoe chart, an 8-inch foot would be a size 1.5 in youth shoes.

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C.M.

answers from Cleveland on

My ds, who just turned 8, wears a size 4. But, I fear what is in our future...I wear a size 11, and his dad wears a size 16! Yikes...

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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

Okay, they cheat us. Here's how sizing works.

If YOU try on your daughter's shoes I bet you can wear them right? That's because they make kids shoes differently.

I wear a ladies 7-7 1/2 and I can easily wear a girls size 4 and 4 1/2. WHY? Because the people that make kids shoes make them differently. They know that mom's want their kids to stay kids for as long as possible. So they enlarge the sizes and keep the kids shoes looking like little girl shoes and don't make them hoochie mama shoes.

If you go to an adult shoe store and look at the smaller sizes you'll see that an actual adult shoe in a size 4 is a tiny heel or adult style shoe and it will not fit your daughter in any way. It would be totally too small, narrower, and more tapered to fit an adult foot that is shapely and not growing any more.

The same thing goes on with clothing.

A GIRLS size large is about the same size as an adult small. Sometimes it could be the same as a medium.

Girls size 8/10 or 10/12 are the same sizes as an adult x-small or small. A girls pre-teen will swallow a lady that wears a small too. It's more like a medium or even a small running ladies large.

Think about the measurements. A kid might have the same size waist but they DO NOT have the breasts or hips of a woman who has had a child. So adult clothes MIGHT be more thigh high cut, lower neckline, larger arm holes, etc....a child's garment will have more modest lines and will probably have narrower hips. This is what used to be called a Junior size. They had smaller bust measurements and smaller hips. They were odd sizes like a 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and so forth. They were made to appeal to younger kids and very young adults.

Where women's clothing were even sizes and had a fuller breast area and fuller hip line. More of an hourglass shape. They were sizes 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and on.

The garment industry doesn't hardly do this type of sizing anymore though. They do sizes like 9/10, 3/4, etc....

So even though your daughter wears a child's size 4 shoe that means she has about a size 6-61/2 foot.

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D.H.

answers from Louisville on

Kids' shoe sizes and adult shoe sizes are getting strange!

I was looking at a "macrame" looking pair for summer at Kohl's ... in my dept looking for a 6, price was about $37 'on sale' ( andthey didn't have 6 or 7). Went to girl's dept to see what might be there for my grand - saw some just like it there and picked up one to check her size.... hmmm... saw a girl's 5 and tried it on ME - and it FELL OFF too big! Ended up getting her a pair in her size (getting the size up fell off her) and got me a child's 4 that fits -- and paid less than that $37 sale price for BOTH!

So yep - strange, but worth watching ladies!

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J.T.

answers from New York on

The shoestore told me to add 2 sizes to the kids size to get = adult. So a kids 4 = an adult 6. I had no idea and find it shocking kids are wearing the same size some moms wear... Interestingly, your daughter is 4 inches shorter than mine who is also 8 (8.5) and my daughter wears more like a 3. I do think foot size is a good predictor of height but not foolproof. I didn't grow until HS but remember my parents saying I was going to be tall bc my feet were big. And they were right. Same time, a girl in college was about 5'3" and wore a size 9... So I guess you never know. And maybe kids feet grow early. I find it hard to believe that an 8 year old wearing an adult size 6 will keep seeing her feet grow at the same rate as they have been. But I guess everything slows down. Not like she's goign to double in height either...

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V.B.

answers from Jacksonville on

She seems to have long feet!
My daughter (not tall, not particularly short, not fat, not skinny--just normal/average everything) turned 11 last summer, and was wearing 4 1/2 - 5. Now she is in 6 1/2 women's, at almost 12. Your daughter is already wearing 4's at 8 years old. So, she has long feet. Is she tall as well?

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ETA:
I have worn 8 1/2s for 25 years and my foot is 9 inches long. I just went and measured with my heel and the ruler both against the baseboard. Marda, I don't know how you are getting your feet into 8 1/2s....

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C.T.

answers from Santa Fe on

My son who just turned 9 wears a size 3...so just one size down from your daughter. Plenty of his friends (girls and boys) have larger feet than he does...so she sounds pretty normal to me!

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C.C.

answers from San Francisco on

She's like a puppy - she has some big feet she needs to grow into! :) My almost-8 year old wears a size 1 in kids and is 48" tall. What I know from my older daughter (who, by the way, wears a size 9.5 in women's and she's only 10 years old!) is that a youth size 4 is the same as a women's 6. It's kind of weird the way they size shoes, huh?

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C.B.

answers from San Francisco on

I just took GD shoe shopping last weekend - what a nightmare! Depending on the shoe, she was fitting into anywhere between a 3 - 5! We ended up with a pair of tennis shoes size 3.5 and a pair of sandles size 5! I think she tried on every pair of shoes in the store!

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C.O.

answers from Minneapolis on

My son who will be 9 next month wears the same size shoe as me. My niece is 9.5 years old and wears the same size shoe as me too. Both of them are tall, I think 4'9" and I and 5'3". I wear a women's size 7-7.5 shoe or size 6-6.5 in kids. My 6 year old on the other hand is a peanut, she's 3'6" and wears a size 12 shoe.

So I am not surprised your oldest daughter has big feet. I think it's normal.

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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

My daughter is 10, and wears a women's size 5.6 or 6.
She also fits into certain ones of my shoes and I am a 7. Adult women's size.

My son is 6, and wears a 2.5 shoes. Youth size. Soon to be size 3 I am sure, after the summer growth spurt.

Kids sizes go up to about size 13.
Then it goes to "Youth," sizing.
Then after that... it is size 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so forth.
At a certain point a girl/kid, can wear adult, sizes.
Once my daughter hit "Youth" size 4, she could overlap and wear adult women sizes.

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L.M.

answers from Orlando on

my daughter is 10 , she is 5 ft tall and wears a womens size 7-8 shoe depending on how it's made. She'll wear a 6-7 in mens!

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B..

answers from Dallas on

My feet didn't grow past 4th grade. I guess that's about 9-10 years old? I had big feet in 4th grade! Now they are considered small. I have literally (even during and after pregnancy) worn the same size for 20 some years. Crazy, huh? She might just have big feet, too. My niece is 14 and nearly the same height and weight as me. She wears 4 shoe sizes bigger then me! She hasn't grown height wise in two years, so I think she's hit her height. She's just got big feet!!

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B.C.

answers from Miami on

Tall supermodel for sure!!!!

1 mom found this helpful
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M.P.

answers from Portland on

I suggest that your daughter wears a size 4 in youth sizes. Your size 8 is in women's sizes? Could that be? I also wonder about your length of foot and size. My foot is 10" long and I wear an 8 1/2.

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A.C.

answers from Madison on

My daughter is 13 years old, about 5'4" tall, and wears a woman's size 11 shoe. She is playing Lacrosse this year, and we had to buy her cleats in the men's shoe section (I think she had to get a 9.5) because they didn't sell women's cleats that big, nor do they carry a wide width (but you can get a wide width in men's shoes).

I sent a silent prayer heavenward that she is done with her feet growing and that it was okay for her to continue growing taller. LOL I'm afraid if her feet don't stop growing that it's going to continue to be harder and harder to find shoes for her--especially nice dressy woman's shoes. Because of course she can buy men's shoes--but men's shoes doesn't equate to nice dressy shoes she might need for a dress or for other work engagements.

Her father is almost 6'2" and wears a 12EE shoe; I am just over 5'3" and wear a size 7. So apparently, she's taking after her dad in height and big feet.

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