first impression appear well made, my son(9), likes the style and fit for his school shoes. he's hard on shoes so time will tellBought these for my 9 year old for hiking camp in the Poconos and they were perfect. She wore them twice ahead of time to break them in, but that was it and not a blister to be seen!These shoes were cute on my daughter and fit well...however, they are NOT waterproof. She poured a little water on the top to test them, and her sock was immediately soaked. Disappointed in this since I purchased them for her to wear on a camping/hiking outing.Love these for my daughter. She can run, hike, and climb in them. Great traction, well-made, and attractive.Seem to be holding up well to an 8yo as school shoes.Merrell never fails to fit. Our kiddo is a wide size shoe. So many shoes say "wide" when they really aren't. Merrell is true to size. Very rugged and never fall apart. I know they are a bit more expensive than the foreign imports, but totally worth the price.This shoe does the job. This brand works well with my kids high arches. Easy to put on. Good all around sport shoe for kids.My grandson has wide, flat feet. We needed to replace his previous Merrell shoes due to wear. Those shoes (a different model of Merrells) fit his feet perfectly. This model is more snug. A local shoe store didn't have a better fitting shoe in stock, but they sold an orthotic insert with a thinner foot pad than the orthotics we were using. That $45 additional purchase turned these good value shoes into a more expensive purchase.Ma fille adore le soulier, mais après l’avoir porté que quelques fois seulement dans la maison. Le bout est déjà décollé. Achat faite le 22 mars.Not as good as waterproof columbia or north faces with equivalent prices.Purchased February 9th and already falling apart. Tie grip coming off the one show and the elastic broken on the other.