A few weeks ago, I found myself sitting on the floor of the Wake Forest Home Depot, surrounded by nails, wooden pieces, hammers and the directions for the Kids Workshop project for the month. Oh, and I can’t forget about my two children who both were convinced that they needed me to help them first.

My kids and I went to our first Home Depot Kids Workshops a few years ago in search of something fun to do while my husband enjoyed his regular Saturday morning golf game. We started going because the price was right (free), the projects looked neat and I thought it would be good for the kids to learn how to build things with tools.

As we headed to the car after our first workshop, I was a bit frazzled. My daughter had forgotten to read the directions and her birdhouse promptly fell apart. As soon as I had finished wiping her tears and helping her put the pieces back together, my son promptly smashed his finger with a hammer. And to top it off my blue shorts were covered in wood glue. Throughout the week, I watched the kids proudly show off their birdhouse to anyone who came to the door and I knew that we would be back to Home Depot on the first Saturday of the month.

As the months passed, I noticed how my daughter began to (usually) read the directions before starting the project. My son learned how to avoid hammering his fingers and they both learned how to not get upset when their project didn’t turn out like they had planned. And my house began to fill up with the various boats, storage containers and race cars that they had built.

But one of the biggest changes that I noticed was in me. Instead of trying do to the majority of the project for the kids so the castle (or racecar or box) turned out perfect, I started standing back. I realized that small tap on the fingers with a hammer wasn’t going to send us to the ER, but it would teach my son how to hammer correctly. I realized that the benefit of Laurel learning how to improvise when she made a mistake was more important than having a project that looked like the display.

I’ve also come to see that the projects that are backwards, held together with duct tape or could only be described as "creative" were the ones that the kids are actually the most proud of. And because my kids made them all by themselves, these are the ones that make me smile the most.

Jennifer appears Mondays on TriangleMom2Mom.