Give that 10-year old plenty of encouragement, but be ready to catch him when he falls. Write the Java for him, if necessary, but then show him the equivalent in Python.
Having the motive to master Minecraft is a good reminder that a lot of us tackle a language as a means to an end not as an end in itself. Saying "Python is easier" is no consolation, like saying, "why not Sanskrit, it's easier than Czech" when, in fact, you're moving to Prague? A lot of us "like programming" and "enjoy learning languages" but lets remember our own personal story is just that. Some of us really do like to argue and/or debate whereas others just see that as being disagreeable. Finding good friends in the Java / Minecraft community, true peers who enjoy the same projects, might possibly be a critical step, though not knowing the individual in question, that could only be a guess. Perhaps those friendships have already been made. I had breakfast with a former Python student who was still overseas when we met online. He's a computer science student at a local university these days and is using C++. Although good at Python and steeped in SQL, he's not disrespectful of what C++ does for us in this world: a lot. Python extends through these languages i.e. is made the richer for them. Kirby