~sigh~ the Open Discussion part of the forum is supposed to be for things that don't fit anywhere else.
Anyway, the main difference between a 'left' and a 'right' guitar is the order of the strings. The rest is simply a matter of comfort or convenience.
The conventional 'right-handed' configuration has the lowest-pitched string at the top when the guitar is held with the neck in the left hand and the bridge near the right hand. If this guitar was flipped around to be fretted with the right hand, the highest-pitched string would be at the top. This is considered to be backwards, but if someone starts out that way, and learns to play with this setup, it works. Albert King did OK with it.
In order to rearrange the strings so that the lowest-pitched string is back at the top, the nut will have to be replaced, and the bridge saddles may need to be shuffled or replaced. Then the bridge will need to be adjusted to get the action and intonation back where it should be. There is no need to rotate the pickups, although their height may need to be adjusted to get a balanced output across the strings.
This won't address the serious ergonomic issue of the control placement. A guitar that was built right-handed will usually be laid out to have the Tone & Volume control(s) below the strings, where they are less likely to get in the way. Supposedly, anyway. I always bash my knuckles on the Volume knob of a Strat if I pick or strum anywhere near the bridge, but that's a topic for another thread. A right-handed guitar that has been flipped for left-handed use often has control knobs right where the player wants to rest their forearm while they play. And the cable jack can be right where the player doesn't want it to be.
Some particularly creative types might find this gives them novel ways to adjust the settings while they pick or strum, but I think most will just find it incredibly annoying. We can't all be Jimi Hendrix.
Since you say this is for your 10-year-old, I fear this conflict could cause a new player to become discouraged. If this is a first guitar for a beginner, I strongly recommend making the effort to find a suitable guitar that is built for left-handed playing. If he's sure he wants to play a left-handed guitar. There are several lefties among the membership here who can chime in on whether its better to play left-handed guitars, which imposes severe limits on the available guitars to choose from, or right-handed, which hugely expands the equipment choices available. Since the actions of the picking and fretting hands are not related to any other activity, a beginner is truly starting with a blank slate. The definitions of 'right-handed' and 'left-handed' guitars derived from the classic string instruments, which in turn are based on "'how its always been done", which almost certainly started out as an arbitrary choice.
