One of the best hunting investments you'll ever make is buying a good rifle and scope for your wife and/or kids.
As B- often says rightly, start at the start.
In this case, that would be buy them something that fits them, not you.
Rifle fit has a great influence on felt recoil.
They likely will need a shorter rifle. Make sure the scope is positioned and adjusted for them, not you, to be comfortable. The investment will be paid back many times over.
And yes, the 308 lower power loads will kill things very dead, as will 243 and 223.
