Tina, you can probably set the account up as joint with you & him, but you as primary and they'll give you the cards. You still are responsible for the account, but you are for any joint account.
There's not a lot of difference in savings and checking accounts these days! LOL--the interest is so low & you can usually get free checking accounts anywhere now, so it doesn't amount to much.
Or, you could set up the savings account like they said and then a separate checking account for him (joint, of course) and you could transfer money online from one to the other.
I think the biggest issue is they can't "collect" (sue) from minors when they run up hundreds in bounced transaction fees like my son's friend did -- he'd use his debit card to buy a soda from a machine & end up having to pay $20 in fees for it. It's over $30 now, I think for one "insufficient fee" transaction.
I think my kids had joint accounts until they were 18, but I'm pretty sure my son had a debit card -- he's the one who told me you could use them at fast food joints and that seems like more than four years ago. So, Suntrust may be more lenient than 1st TN.
Both my kids were writing checks--with their names on the checks-- way before they were 18--they started jobs at 15, and I don't see why the card makes it so different.