My husband regularly marvels at my ability to fix things, create things, just do things. He is forever of the mistaken belief that I have some innate ability to accomplish all things. He could not be more wrong. I didn't climb out of the womb knowing how to refinish a hope chest, sew a quilt, crochet a rug, or assemble some crazy piece of Ikea furniture. The knowledge of how to redo the floors, fix the drip system, and change the oil in my car. So, what the hell? Why can I do these things and he can't?
All that being said, no, I don't take everything lightly as I jump into doing things myself. I won't attempt to fix the clutch on my car. I leave that to the professionals. I will, however, observe and ask questions. I just like the learning process. I'm not going to lay my own carpet. I will help my dad do it, though. I like that stuff. I like knowing how to do things, I like having a variety of skills, and, mostly, I like the feeling of independence when I don't have to ask someone else to take care of a problem for me.
As for me, I enjoy seeing my bloopers. Looking through the things I've done is like reading my own story. I can see how I started, where I was then, and how far I've come since. That's cool to me. Those mistakes aren't ugly to me. Besides, even if they are, by making them, I can better do over what I once fouled up.
Why am I writing this on my parenting blog? Because my son has the same tendencies as my husband. He expects to be good at things right away and tends to freak out and come down hard on himself when he's not. It is one of my primary goals to continue to show him by example not that practice makes perfect, but that it makes progress and that only by not being good right away can we be great later.
"There is no greater bore than perfection." ~Richard Connell