I'd say the main thing is the butt length on the rod. You'd be surprised on how much lighter a rod feels with a longer but section to balance it out. That means longer fishing time for youngsters. There are a lot of great rods out right now. I prefer St.Croix rods from Thorne Brothers because you can custom order the butt section to your specifications. There are a lot of other rod selections they have there also. You can talk to Lonnie at Thornes and he will fix you up with a rod in your price range that will outperform most any rod you can find. He can also make the foregrip smaller to fit your sons hands better. Just tell him about how much you want to spend and he will set you up or recommend a different rod. He knows rods a lot better than any of us.

Try a Curado 300 or Revo if you want to really have him fish long hours. They are sweet reels. A little pricey though. The 5500 is priced better.