meh, while python is the modern basic and general all-round utility, it's not IMHO a very good first language, with quite extensive syntax, not to mention the glaring (again very IMHO) mistake of significant whitespace.

Scratch and other block codes are a good first contact, but for text languages, I think something like lua would be a much simpler, and therefore better introduction. And it's great for games (love2d, pico8/tic80, roblox, etc), which is what can really motivate kids.