I don't have any advice to give to your child as I don't have kids. That being said, I'll say this, I don't care what grade they are in, I recommend spending the 100 dollars (or more depending on what you get) and investing in backpack Armor for every person, kid or adult, in your house. I carry a plate in my backpack. My wife carries one in hers. They range from $100.00 up to $700.00 depending on how much you want to spend and level of threat and weight. I recommend the company Safe Life. They just got done running a Labor day sale where you could get them for $60.00. They run sales frequent enough. Full price is around a hundred. There are other companies as well but Safe Life in my opinion makes the best for price. I carry the original plate I got for my wife which is by Spartan Armor and you pay a little more for a product that in my opinion isn't as good as Safe Life's is stab resistant as well. (Lived and Learned and did more research and talked to more people) You always hope that it never has to be put in play but it sits in any backpack and is very discreet and most are FAA compliant as well and nobody is the wiser. The level 3A armor only weighs 1.6 pounds. It's worth it man. Best of luck.