Overthinking kids first rifle; .223 or bigger is better

[LongWayAround]

I don't have kids, but I would advocate for giving them the smallest amount of recoil available.

Last weekend I watched a small kid just getting hammered by recoil at a bench while three grown men provided "instruction". Poor little dude looked like a crash test dummy. I can't imagine standing next to that and thinking it looked alright.

I could just picture his old man saying "my boy handles the *** just fine."

Meanwhile my buddy and I are banging away with our little .223s.