I'm a guy, but I have girls. My 7 year old is my hiking buddy.

Where do I need the waist belt to fit on her?

I put it across my belly button (riding on the bones in that area). Does it need to be lower to be comfortable for her?

We had issues with her using her new pack today (her 5 year old brother was a trooper, though) and my wife was wondering if I was putting the pack on my daughter incorrectly.

Sincerely

Steadman

It depends on the pack and the load. A 7 year old shouldn't be carrying very much and I'd think the fit should be about the same as for a boy, because she hasn't yet developed the hips and other female bumpiness to account for... I seem to recall having a pack that didn't even have a belt when I was a kid.

Was it a fit issue or was she complaining about packing in general? How much was in it?

Near the waist, one either side, on the front, there is a sort of point of bone called the iliac crest. Usually pretty easy to locate. The belt should sit so that the iliac crest is in the middle of the width of the belt.

However, with a pack as light as she should be carrying (like 5 pounds), the belt is not that important, so if the size of the pack is such that you can't get the belt in the right spot while having the shoulder straps properly adjusted (which will happen if the pack is either a little small or a little big for her) it's better to forget about the belt.

Can you get your daughter to tell you just where she is uncomfortable? Is it the hip belt? The shoulder straps? The weight?

Actually, a 5-pound pack on a child that age does require a hip belt, to take the pressure of the straps off her shoulders. 5 lbs. on a 35 lb. child is almost 15% of her weight. I know that I can't carry 15% of my weight without a hipbelt!

The hip belt should rest on the iliac crest (top of the hip bone) regardless of the sex of the wearer. It's just a lot easier to find in females who are physically mature!

I believe you bought Deuter packs for your kids. One thing about Deuter packs is that they have a lot of fiddly adjustments. When my 9-year-old grandson first tried his Deuter pack (Fox 30 in his case), he found it very uncomfortable and I was ready to send it back. First, though, I spent over an hour first adjusting the load and then adjusting the pack. The tag that came with the pack was most informative and told me a lot of new things about pack adjustment! During the trip he carried extra (more than just his gear) and outhiked the rest of us, even his dad! Anyway, try lots of adjusting before giving up on the pack! You may also need to lighten the weight. One thing I've found--every kid is different! In my son's family, it's the older boy who complains about discomfort, while his younger sister is a natural born athlete and very tough!

I hope you can get the pack to work with your daughter! If not, it's probably better to let her hike without a pack (or at most just a light jacket and half a pint of water) until she gets more used to hiking. It's more important that she learn to like it!

She didn't even give me a chance to fit it right - decided it was too heavy, and that she had a choice (we went to the zoo) and was off with no pack.

Her (somewhat envious) 5 year old brother wanted to carry it, so he toted 20% of his body weight (they weigh the same, he's just shorter) around the zoo for the next hour and a half. I almost had to pry it off him.

So long as I'm fitting the waist belt on them right,I can make everything else work. Both kids will be carrying MUCH less than lunch for 5 to the zoo when we go out backpacking.