The belt itself is just as you might expect and the quality is nice.  The mechanism of the buckle, however, is so 'stiff' that my 8-year-old can barely tighten or loosen it himself. Like any military-style belt of this type, you feed the band through the buckle and then pull back on the 2 metal brads on the top and bottom, which squeezes the band inside so it can't pull back through. Perhaps with more use the brad mechanism will loosen up! Overall I would recommend but if your small child doesn't have a pretty strong grip he may get frustrated with this one.