Step at a time. I found C easy, then stepped up to C++
I wouldn't recommend starting with C and going to an object oriented language later either, because that's what I did. If you become good at C, there is a lot to unlearn to properly code in objects. Just unlearning things takes at least a year or two.
Depending on the age of the student, Scratch is a good learning tool. Also Pharo, which is a free Smalltalk implementation. You can't get a job in Pharo, but it is great for learning object oriented languages.
C++ is the hardest language to learn. It is probably the most powerful. C++ programmers are a different breed.