If we want to get new blood into the programming market, we need start with kids when they are young.

If I had to suggest something, I'd recommend Python. It is easy to learn, object based, and the techniques you learn could easily be transferred to Java (or use Jython) or C++.

But Python isn't for everybody. So why not introduce them to programming with their very own programming language?

Take a look at KPL. It's a new language designed to give quick gratification to kid programmers. It's loosely based on BASIC (although parts of it felt more Modula-2 (a derivative of Pascal) to me...), but the theory remains sounds.