My son learned how to shoot a rifle at a young age with a scoped 22 then went up to a 243 and at age 10 he killed his first deer with that gun. He' s now 13 and can shoot my 30.06 and 25.06 really well for his age. I would have to agree that the 243 is a good gun to start a youngster off with and it' s recoil is light as they learn how to shoot. The 25.06 does have more recoil than the 243 and like already mentioned may cause some bad habits to develope. I' m not saying she couldn' t handle the 25.06 now but from my experience with my kid the 243 would be better for her.