Terry,
if parents start "doing stuff for their kids", not a lot good will come from it. Kids aren't stupid. Parents need to things for themselves and only then let the kids participate. That's the case with music, with sports, with cooking, with video games, with fashion and clothing, and also all other kind of tinkering from sewing, jewel crafting to electronics and computers. So to get children involved, get the parents involved first.
In the end, being able to deliver useful results even for beginners (adults) matters most. And to deliver useful results there needs to be a problem to be solved. Remember the classic entry into electronics? Build your own AM radio receiver or your own Tesla coils for sparks - something useful. Or why else are some many people coming from other occupations like model vehicles, car tinkering, electronic music, robotics, home gadgetry to the Arduino and so little people start out with the Arduino directly?
If you want to bring people to the Arduino, look for people with occupations who could use them, show them how it can work for their hobby. That will get them hooked. And once you have them with the Arduino, they can then be goaded in the direction of programming or electronics. Don't start them directly on programming or electronics, those are rather forbidding domains where so many things can go wrong and simple looking problems become very complicated and frustrating fast.
Korman