"I used to carry a bag just like yours, but we always wore it on the left side, so that you could get to it quickly with your right hand; if you wear yours on the right like that, it won't be so easy to get to."Alyosha began with this practical remark, without any premeditated guile, which, incidentally, is the only way for an adult to begin if he wants to gain the immediate confidence of a child, and especially a whole group of children. One must begin precisely in a serious and practical way so as to be altogether on an equal footing. Alyosha instinctively understood this.
in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov
1 comment:
I agree. You do have to be both serious and practical. I know from experience coaching that if you start off joking around too much with kids, they don't take you seriously and don't respect you as much.
But you also have to come down to their level and remind them that you too were once just like them.
I think it only comes from experience. Great quote.
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