molly,
kids do all sorts of crazy things with their voices; yelling, screaming, etc. the problem with taking the approach of being excessively cautious with someone that age is, he'll be scared to death to sing in a few years. my feeling is that you should teach him how much fun singing is. get him singing songs that he'll like from a variety of styles.
you can teach him about music and help him understand how sound works (without making it rocket science). most people who begin singing have some really silly ideas about how sound works and most of their difficulties come from their misconceptions. for example: how many people think 'high' and 'low' notes are a matter of height, instead of frequency? you can always tell someone thinks this by their head movement or, eye movement (they look as if they're trying to see over a fence on the highest pitches).
teach him whatever he can handle.
good luck to you both, mike
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