Mailvox: calling all codemonkeys

MVO has a question:

My wife and I homeschool a 14-year-old. He wants to be a video game designer. The lot falls to me to teach him programming. I’m marginally proficient in html with a little java script. I program cnc machinery as part of my job. What is the natural progression of programming languages I should introduce him to?

Flash then Java then C++? I don’t know, not being a programmer myself. It’s probably worth noting that there are fewer professional game designers than NFL players, but good programmers seldom find it hard to find a job.