To Mentor...

Just like in real life, the veterans help the rookies acclimate themselves to their new homes and jobs. In baseball a veteran pitcher takes a new pitcher under his wing, teaches him how to deal with things like losses, bad performance, but also teaches them the small tricks, the little portions that make the elite, the elite.

I've been on this road before with a few other paladins. The one that gained the most status if you will, is Augustus. Who after his folly time in Sassy Pink Dragons, went on to tank for SOJ, a high end guild on our server. I had already at the time stepped away to be casual, and didn't feel really any resentment about him gaining that spot, afterall if I had wanted to continue raiding after Tyrants, I would have easily gotten in that guild I'm sure.
None the less, I was pretty proud to see that my work had afforded someone a good station in a good place.

I'm on that path again as it seems with a new paladin, Valenar. He's someone like Augustus, who had recently taken up tanking. And while he has the surface of tanking nearly set, as any tank knows, there so much more to it than just rolling a rotation.
From past experiences it's the reasoning, and why's in methods that are the hardest to instill. The why you should do this when this happens. Or the reason you would gear this way, or why you would let this happen, but not that.
Some of the difficulties that can't really be handled by guiding are the processes that happen in the mind so quickly. Being able to negotiate any sort of mishap can't be just told to someone. Telling him "BOP the healer, taunt the first three off this, and slap the last on that guy, then position yourself and make sure you have threat laid on all of them before your 3 seconds of taunt is up." isn't something you can just say to them, and have them replicate on que. Untrained minds make fingers fumble in situations like these. You can only give your advice and hope that they exact them without thought when such the occasion arises.
There will always be differences in opinions. Both at the beginning of their tanking careers, sheerly because of what they may have saw other tanks doing. Then later on when they have some experience they start formulating their own ideas and theories. It makes for an interesting experience. Most of the time they have some of it right, but the rest is skewed on a idea that just doesnt work. At other times you get pleasantly suprised, just because your the teacher, it never means someone doesn't have a spark of brilliance and come up with something great and new.

More later :)