Niels is on the slim side too. Plus he has those Dutch legs. One nice thing about the older boy Hanna pants is that they often have a drawstring as well as the waist band so you can cinch it in. Lands End has that also. I really like their climber pants because they have built in belt thing and there is elastic around the bottom of the legs so that if you buy the pants a bit long to account for growth over the season they don't end up dragging on the ground.