im 17 and instructing a friend that is well into his 70's. i hope one day he will be able to takeoff and land on his own, weither that will happen it doesnt matter, he has a great time hanging around the field telling stories about his free flight models from when he was a kid. i enjoy listening to his stories and talking with him while i teach him. His wife has alzheimers and if i can help him in anyway i will. i can tell it is really affecting him, he really loves his wife. if i can take his mind off of everything for a few min's, i will spend a hour of my time to do so.

stop flying when you arnt having fun, my friend is really enjoying himself when he gets out to the field and thats whats important, if i have to buddybox forever i wouldnt mind.
if one day he said im not into it anymore i would be fine with that too because i could understand the fustration of trying and failing more than actually flying. i trashed my first model at least 10 times (gws estarter) and bought a gws slowstick to replace it. thats when it clicked, my first flight w/ the slowstick made all the sense in the world, put the biggest smile on my face for the rest of the week, i was so happy it worked because that was really the last chance i was going to give for flying. now 15+ models later im having a blast, but i realize how close i came to quitting.

stick with it, once it becomes a chore drop it, as simple as that. if you arnt having fun whats the point of anything?
life is to short to not have fun.

my advice is take the slowstick, fly it as slow as you can (about jogging speed) and fly it ten feet or less above the ground, if you get in trouble just cut throttle and let it hit the ground. it wont have enough speed/mass to damage anything, then pick it up and try again.
just make sure its a big field with nothing to avoid. also dont fly it above 8-10 mph winds uintil you get the hang of it