Do you really want to buy your child the cheepest gun you can get? Let me Let me preface this by saying that I have two boys 2 1/2 years apart and the second is left handed. I am still in the process of the "youth" shot gun journey. Before you buy anything let your child shoot a 20 guage with a lite load. If you don't have one borrow one. See if your child wants/is ready to shoot and are not scared of the noise/ recoil. Each kid is different. Some can not handle BB gun recoil while others can take the kick of of a 12 ga. and smile wanting more. If the child cannot stand up and hold the gun thay do not need to be shooting it. I have seen lots of dads at the shooting range with kids scared of shooting a BB gun because of dads pushing them.
Now my story. Where I made my mistake was going for the cheep single shot gun thinking they would grow out of a good gun to fast. I started out with the Trapper "Little Jake". It is ambidextrous but kicks like a mule and if your child can pull back the hammer then return it to safe then they are ready for a bigger gun. I never though that hammer guns were safe in the hands of a small child because of the strenght and coordination needed to move the hammer.
The second gun was a Youth 870 camo new out of the box for Christmas. I thought my son would keep it for his kids and my lefty could use it (he could not). The recoil was fine but the action was horrible. So hard and rough to slide that it was basicly a single shot. I know most of the people on here love these, but a straight out of the box the new Express 870's are junk. I have tried other Express's and own a Wingmaster. The old Wingmaster is a real gun. After shooting two years with the 870 my boy tried a friends 20ga BPS. Immediately he ask me if he could get a BPS. Being to cheep to buy him another new gun I finally found a used NWTF BPS 12ga. on CL. He had grown some by then so i bought it. Comming home from the first time shooting it I ask him if "he wanted to keep the 870 to hand down". His responce was "Sell It" with out batting an eye. The good news is I sold it for close to what I paid for it to a 40 year old making it into a Turkey Killer. He was happy and I was happy to see it go.
My lefty had to suffered through several years with the Trapper. The last two I was trying to find a used Micro BPS (good Luck). I finialy broke down and bought a new one for in time for Dove Seasion last fall. He loves it and so did his friends (and dads) in the Duck blinds last month. It is a great little gun that he is proud to carry. He is looking foward to taking a Turkey in a few weeks. He is hoping for his second bird. He shot his fist last year with my BPS last year. Yes, I liked my older boys gun so much that I got one for my self! We were in aground blind so he could prop it out the window. I ask him if he wanted to use the Trapper or the BPS. He chose the BPS.
The part that I have not told you yet is that before I bought the Trapper and the 870 youth I looked at the Micro BPS both times but did not want to spend the money on it. In the end it would have been less expensive and I think my boys would have had a overall better experance if I had bought the Browning.
Here is somthing else to think about. Both my boys started shooting under my supervision .22's at 5, both shot their first deer (does) at 6 with a youth .223, first dove (in a tree) at 7. When asked this year while setting in a dove field my 13 year old did not remember that he shot 3 does at 6. My 15year old thought he remembered but it was actually a Buck he shot at 7 1/2. I had to ask myself were thay really mature enough for that or was ego so inmature that I let them. I thought that I was making a memory for them. At least thay have the pictures.
