? about shoe sizing, kids to adults

I know I could spend some quality time with my kids in a shoe store and figure this out, but  somehow that just doesn't like fun.  Does anyone happen to know how the sizing works going from kids to adult sizing in shoes?  Both of the kids wear about a 5.5 in kids shoes.  Does that equal a 5.5 in adults? Is there a general rule?
 
I prefer the price of kids shoes, but looking at some of the styles, especially for Sarah, they seem a little too childish.  I'm not looking to buy anything immediately, but I know it's coming in the spring.
 
Marissa

 

I don't think it is the same.  I bought Marcus shoes last week, and he went from a boys 7 to a mens 9.5!  Yes, he was wearing the old shoes for way too long, but knew he couldn't get the style he liked in mens, so was sucking it up for a while.  I think it goes from boys 7 to mens 8, and there really isn't an overlap.  In womens, I think there is one, as Stride Rite had a sign saying if you wear a certain size womans shoe, you could fit a girls size x--they were advertising for uggs.  Maybe there is an online chart from someone like Nike where you could compare.
 
Here is a chart that has sizes converted to inches: http://www.zappos.com/measure-your-shoe-size
 
A girls 5.5 is a women's 7: A boys 5.5 is a men's 6.  But I have found it really hard to find men's shoes smaller than an 8.

 

Huh. Don't know about women's shoes, but boys and men use the same size scale. I order them from Wal-mart (I like the Avia brand) and it doesn't seem to matter whether I shop from the boys' selection or the men's selection. A size 8 is a size 8.

 

I'm not sure about boys but for the girls a girls size 3 is a womens 5, girls 4 is a  womens 6, girls 5 is a womens 7.