Children and guitars,.,.

I think it never stops surprising me, but the effect guitars have on small children is really funny. You can walk into a bunch of noisy, unpolite and active children, strike a chord (or even better: A powerchord on an electric guitar with distortion), and everything gets quiet. All attention is on you. The attention is also positive. You haven't yelled at them to get it. You haven't told them to be quiet either. It just happens.

Of course, after 25 seconds, when the shock of being presented with a real instrument has faded, they are full of questions and back to normal. But the connection is still there. Then you can talk to them, and as you play them a song or two, you win their respect wich will last you a long time.

That is my experience at least.