Since I had real, solid role models, the particular Rebbi didn’t make much of a difference.
When I’m trying to stop a child from doing a Melacha on Shabbos, in stead of saying, yaw notta ladda, I say, Shabbos with a tone of awe. The child understands that obviously it is something not to be done, but he also gets the message that it is because of the specialty of Shabbos and not the restrictiveness thereof. Whenever discussing Shabbos, and what it is about, we mention the Seuda, nosh for kids, and not that it is a time when we aren’t allowed to do things.