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We adapt a biomechanical argument of Rashevsky, which places limits on the stress experienced by a torso supported by the legs, to deduce that body mass m of growing children should scale as the p th power of height h with 7/3 < p < 8/3. Further arguments based on stability and heat loss suggest that p should be close to 8/3. The arguments are extended to suggest that waist circumference w should scale as h(q) with q near the lower end of 2/3 <= q <= 1. Data from Hong Kong and British children are consistent with these hypotheses. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.