I first started programming with C and had a terrible time. I didn't really get anywhere and went through a cycle of repeatedly giving up and them returning to it after having a break.

I don't think it's a good way to start programming but I would encourage people to learn it at some point because of the reason you gave.

I'd also suggest that the best way to get to grips with C is to learn assembly with a simple processor at the same time. People always seem to get stuck on pointers etc and that's easy to understand when you know a processor's addressing modes. Plus, it's always fun to use gcc to output (unoptimized) assembly code and compare it to what you would have written.