QotD: Parenting dilemmas

[. . .] quite possibly the ugliest thing your kid has ever made, and this presents you with one of those parenting dilemmas: What do you say when your child presents you with a handmade gift, and it looks like something a clown threw up after washing down a box of crayons with a quart of Ripple?

On one hand, you're touched they made something for you, and you want to reward their creative desires. On the other hand, if you accept everything uncritically, they'll grow up without standards, and think everything they toss off gets the same wonderful reaction. ("A broken crayon with some string glued on the end? Why, it's the best birthday present ever, Hon. And tell your husband I said hello.")

James Lileks, "Romzak triglit? For me? I love it!", Star Tribune, 2006-04-21