A dad came in one August with his son, a Year 5 lad who had just been picked up by a local club, and asked the question we hear more than any other: “Can we go a size up so they last him the season?”
It is a completely reasonable thing to ask. Children's feet grow, boots are not cheap, and nobody wants to buy twice in six months. The honest answer is that a boot bought two sizes big will not last the season either — it will just be uncomfortable for the first half of it and worn out early because the foot has been sliding around inside. Here is what to do instead.
What a too-big boot actually does to a child
Adults notice a loose shoe immediately. Children often do not say anything, partly because they have nothing to compare it to and partly because they want to play. What happens instead shows up in other ways.
The foot slides forward on every stop, so the toes hit the front of the boot and take a battering — that is where bruised toenails come from. The heel lifts on each stride, and that friction is what produces the blister on the back of the heel that appears after a single training session. To stop the sliding, the child unconsciously claws their toes to hold the boot on, which is tiring and makes running mechanics worse. And a foot that is not locked in place cannot feel the ball properly, so first touch and striking both suffer without anyone knowing why.
None of that is a reason to buy tight, either. A boot that is genuinely too short is worse again, and children's feet grow in bursts rather than smoothly, so a pair that fitted in September can be short by half term.
The rule: a thumb's width, and no more
Stand the child up in the boot, laces done up properly, wearing the socks they actually play in. Press down at the end of the boot. You want roughly a thumb's width — about a centimetre — between the longest toe and the end. Not two fingers. Not “room to grow into.” A thumb's width is already the growing room.
Then check the rest of it. The heel should stay put when they walk and rise on their toes; if it lifts clear, the boot is too big or too wide at the back regardless of what the length says. The widest part of the foot should sit at the widest part of the boot, not behind it. And the laces should end up somewhere near the middle of their travel — if they have to be pulled almost closed to hold the foot, the boot is too roomy.
Measuring at home before you order
- Measure in the evening. Feet swell through the day and a morning measurement will read short.
- Put the football socks on first. They take up more room than school socks do.
- Stand the child on a sheet of paper with their weight on the foot, heel against a wall.
- Mark the end of the longest toe — which is not always the big toe — and measure heel to mark in millimetres.
- Do both feet. Most people have one longer than the other, and you fit to the longer one.
- Compare against the size chart for that specific brand. Junior sizing is not consistent between makes, and a boot that fits in one brand's size 4 can be a size out in another.
A quick trick if the boots are already in the house: pull the insole out and stand the child on it. You can see exactly where the toes fall and whether the foot is spilling over the sides.
When sizing up genuinely is the right call
There are a few cases where going up makes sense, and they are narrower than people assume.
- They measure between two sizes. Go up, not down. Never squeeze a foot into the smaller one.
- The foot is wide. A wider foot sometimes needs the next size for width rather than length, though a wider-fitting boot is the better fix if you can find one. Leather uppers give more than knitted synthetics here.
- You are mid growth spurt. If they have gone up a size in the last couple of months, expect it to happen again. Go up one, and one only.
What does not work: buying big and padding it out with a thicker sock or a second insole. That changes where the foot sits, not how well it is held, and it usually creates pressure across the top of the foot instead.
Spotting the moment they have outgrown them
Children rarely announce it. Check every couple of months during the season, and look for these before you are told.
- Red marks or indentations across the toes or the little toe joint after they take the boots off.
- Toenails going dark, or the child picking at them.
- Wear appearing on the upper right at the toe end, where the toe is pushing.
- The child leaving laces slack, or asking to take the boots off at half time.
- A sudden reluctance to wear that pair when they were fine a month ago. That one is usually the earliest signal.
Making a pair last without buying big
If the aim is to get value out of a pair, the honest levers are care rather than size. Take them off by undoing the laces rather than standing on the heel — heel counters get crushed that way and once crushed they never hold the foot again. Knock the mud off after every game and let them dry at room temperature, never on a radiator, which hardens leather and can warp a soleplate. And keep a cheap pair of turf boots for training on hard ground so the good pair only comes out on match day.
Most of our football range is boots, junior sizes included, and there is a wider selection of sports footwear if you need a training pair alongside them. If you are between sizes and not sure which way to jump, get in touch or bring them in — ten minutes of fitting beats a season of blisters.