Taught my Nephew to fly R/C. First I made him build a trainer himself, gave him tips and talked him through things, but HE built it. He couldn't even build a plastic car model when he started. Did that so he would be invested in it and try to NOT crash it. He didn't try to take care of things very well and had the attitude of "Just buy another one."
Had have one of the other guys in the club teach him to fly. On his first flight, he wouldn't listen to me and instead kept doing his own thing. Didn't have a trainer cord so I had to take the radio away from him several times to save the plane and he would try to play keep away with the radio. Found someone else to be his instructor. Listened to the other guy just fine.
And like me, after he started flying solo had a couple of impromptu plane to ground interactions he had to repair. He thought I would repair it for him. After doing the repairs himself it sure made him much more careful and pay more attention when flying. It was difficult to get him over that silver spoon attitude.
I understand the the younger generation pick things up much quicker thanks to video games, but there is nothing like a trainer to cut their teeth on because trainers fly slower, are easier to fly and especially easier to land (low stall speed), and are easier to repair when you do crack up. The newer electronic nannies are nice except where it comes down to bringing that sucker in slow enough you can react without stalling.
Besides, my trainer looked really cool!
Enjoyed the heck out it!