The purpose of the puzzle pieces is to prevent syntax errors, right? Do kids (or anyone, now that I consider the question) really need to deal with syntax errors?
Scratch is designed to encourage children, not discourage them. Syntax errors are the bane of learning to program for the first time.
As sibling comment indicates, it's also good to be able to code on a tablet, but I didn't think that would be as convincing to parent who seems opposed to graphical interfaces in general.
1. Prevent syntax errors.
2. Remove the need to type on a keyboard.
3. Remove the need to memorize basic commands.
The kids will eventually need to learn #2, but I think it's great that they can do programming in the interim.
#3 will start to come naturally once you've dragged enough if-else blocks in Scratch. Scratch is an on-ramp.
I will point out btw that Scratch is turing-complete.