to think uk shoe sizing is confusing?

[GreenMarkerPen]

separate sizes for children
separate sizes for women
separate sizes for men

I have started to only look for european sizes as I can never be sure.

aibu to find it confusing?

I think that where European sizes are pegged to Uk sizes has drifted slightly over the years. I also think that the eqivalent men's/boys' sizes are very slightly larger to allow for the same size foot with socks rather than tights.

it is a little bit for kids i dont understand it most times

I sometimes have to go a size up if I am buying children's shoes for me. Not the size 5 they have initially but the size 5 that older children buy (you don't pay tax on children's clothing so I often buy shoes from their section).

Men and women's sizes are the same? But in EU and US sizes they're different so surely they are more Complicated??

no eu sizes go all the way through from infant to giant. same sizing for men and women.

I am usually a UK7 but some places equate that with 40, some with 39

And in some it's a 41. Madness.

I'm a uk women's size 9 but a mans size 8. Men's size 9's are enormous on me.

Come on, obviously not an infant 5! I wear a women's 5. But Tesco eg go up to a size 5 in their kids range for say a 14 year old so I can wear those too, That's what PP means, not the size 5 that my 2 year old wears.

Men and women do have different sizes. A size 8 in women's (generally the largest women's size you can get in regular shops) is a size 7 in men's. Not different enough to be a clear demarcation.
OP, YANBU.

I imagine men's shoes are wider that women's.

I too can wear a older child size 5 and an adult size 5.

Not toddler size.

But presumably isn't a child size 5, it is a big 5 as I call it but essentially the same size as an adult 5 but in a child's style.
My girls outgrew child 13 by age 6-7.