This is totally a matter of you knowing your son, so I can't blatantly recommend something. Just please don't start him with too much gun. If he develops a bad flinch now, it will really hurt his learning curve as a shooter.
I say this, because I shot my first deer at the age of 10 with my dad's 30/06. It was sheer mental strength that allowed me to overcome the flinch I had developed with it while "sighting in" in order to make the shot on that deer. I wanted that deer more than any deer since that day, so I concentrated really hard to make sure I did everything right and not flinch.
Had we been in the situation that you are in now, with being able to choose any caliber imaginable, I wouldn't have been getting my little teeth kicked out shooting 180 grainers out of an 8-lb rifle. We certainly would have chosen something like a moderately heavy .243 with a decent recoil pad.
Again.....it's a choice that only you can make. Good luck with it and I hope you can give us an update later on with his progress.
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