I think the lesson we tried to teach the boy was how to responsibly use a checking account and debit card. The lesson he learned seems to have been, avoid checking accounts and debit cards. The extent that the bank came down on him for a small ($.16, entirely his fault) seems to have soured him on that idea. Not only did they ruin the lesson we were trying to teach, but they seem to have lost themselves a customer.
We’ll try again in a few months, perhaps with a friendlier bank or a new law.