A good friend showed me how to shoot a long bow Apache style, it really took some adjusting on my part but I did catch on and a back injury stopped my traditional shooting when I was about 32 or 33 years old. I had a Damon Howitt Hunter recurve my father gave me that was a nice bow also.
Royd is right a traditional bow teaches hand eye coordination much better. There is always the chance that instinctive shots are needed in bowhunting even with a compound, close shots at small game for example and it also is cheaper in case the kid loses interest, which I doubt they will it...
My son's first bow was a Browning youth compound. It had adjustable draw lenghts to acccomadate his growth. I spent over 1,000.00 on his current bow for his 18th birthday. Just bought second son a Mathews it was 700.00. I learn slowly but do learn. I started shooting bows when I was a teen.