Great question! My thought is that an empathetic response will go a long way toward our kids finding a solution that works for them:
Often, in the case of art projects, our kids are simply disappointed that the vision isn’t translating into reality. As adults, we know how frustrating this can be, too!
Watch the above video, say “Show me the hard part” to your child, and then wait for a response. Depending on your child’s age, resist the temptation to fix anything, but instead, offer space for them to solve their own problem. Chances are, once a child’s frustration is voiced and heard, i.e. “Oh, you’re right – that is frustrating!” and he/she feels understood (active listening works great here), their brain will move into solutions mode rather than alarm mode.
From there, my daughter used to love crumpling up her pages and ripping them up if she hated what she saw, and I allowed it! We then saved the scraps in our scrap stash for a “mixed media” piece later, once her frustration had passed. Involve your kids in brainstorming solutions! Maybe they do want to learn to draw better, or maybe they just want to feel their disappointment for a bit. Both courses of action are understandable! :)
I hope this helps!!