The child’s pride in finishing deserves a moment before the adult notices what is crooked.

A child holding up a finished thing is not really showing you the object. They are showing you that they did it, all the way to the end, and they want to watch that land on your face. Corrections tend to arrive faster than praise, because the crooked line is what the adult eye catches first. The order matters more than the content, and a note delivered too soon can replace the whole memory of finishing.

Give the pride its moment before anything else. Say what you actually see them having done. If a fix matters, it will still matter tomorrow.