Over the past five years, there has been an increase in reports on quality of life issues for both adults and children. Measuring quality of life has become popular due to the medical profession's accountability, the need for outcome measures in clinical trials, and its use in justifying resource allocation. However, defining quality of life in the context of health, especially for children, remains challenging. A comprehensive definition of quality of life in children and adolescents was proposed by a group examining children with cancer, emphasizing its multidimensional nature, including social, physical, and emotional functioning. Another definition by Gill and Feinstein highlights the personal perception of health status. Key challenges include defining the theoretical framework for measuring health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and accurately capturing the child's perspective. Validity and reliability are crucial, with different types of validity (face, content, criterion, construct) and reliability (stability, equivalence) being considered. Generic and disease-specific measures are used, with generic measures being broad and disease-specific measures focusing on specific conditions. Measuring a child's quality of life is challenging due to the need for the child's own perspective, which may not always be possible. Proxy responses by parents may be less accurate. The child's concept of health changes with age and maturity, and illness understanding can be influenced by experience rather than cognitive development. The mode of administration of quality of life measures must balance compliance and cost, with self-completion, face-to-face interviews, and telephone interviews being common methods. Future research is needed to develop valid and reliable measures that can be used across different populations and ages. The ultimate goal is to identify areas of problem, apply appropriate interventions, and improve the quality of life for children. This requires collaborative research to ensure the validity and reliability of measures, and to obtain meaningful data about the child's perception of health and illness.Over the past five years, there has been an increase in reports on quality of life issues for both adults and children. Measuring quality of life has become popular due to the medical profession's accountability, the need for outcome measures in clinical trials, and its use in justifying resource allocation. However, defining quality of life in the context of health, especially for children, remains challenging. A comprehensive definition of quality of life in children and adolescents was proposed by a group examining children with cancer, emphasizing its multidimensional nature, including social, physical, and emotional functioning. Another definition by Gill and Feinstein highlights the personal perception of health status. Key challenges include defining the theoretical framework for measuring health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and accurately capturing the child's perspective. Validity and reliability are crucial, with different types of validity (face, content, criterion, construct) and reliability (stability, equivalence) being considered. Generic and disease-specific measures are used, with generic measures being broad and disease-specific measures focusing on specific conditions. Measuring a child's quality of life is challenging due to the need for the child's own perspective, which may not always be possible. Proxy responses by parents may be less accurate. The child's concept of health changes with age and maturity, and illness understanding can be influenced by experience rather than cognitive development. The mode of administration of quality of life measures must balance compliance and cost, with self-completion, face-to-face interviews, and telephone interviews being common methods. Future research is needed to develop valid and reliable measures that can be used across different populations and ages. The ultimate goal is to identify areas of problem, apply appropriate interventions, and improve the quality of life for children. This requires collaborative research to ensure the validity and reliability of measures, and to obtain meaningful data about the child's perception of health and illness.