Each week in Moms Talk our Moms Council, consisting of local parents, take your questions, gives advice and share solutions.

Question: Recently, the second graders at Loomis Elementary School had their annual hobby show. My son Peter wanted to show off his collection of cars and wanted our help. He wanted to make his presentation look like the floor of the car show. We headed to Jo-Ann Fabrics where we picked up a ton of supplies to make his auto show come true. 

Only, it didn't happen. Dad ended up traveling for work, and mom, well, I got really sick. I tried to sew his cars on the silver tafetta covered auto show floor, but it kept sticking to my fingers. The spinning platform wasn't spinning. Things were falling apart. I ended up sitting Peter down and telling him that we needed a new strategy, as it was 6 p.m. the night before the show. We came up with something very simple and neat, which he was able to do mostly on his own, and he was very proud of what he accomplished.

With another project due before the end of the month, I reached out to local moms for advice on school projects and the level of help I should be giving my child. I asked the moms the following questions:  

• How do you get your child to do their school projects independently?
• Is it wrong to steer them in a certain direction?
• What amount of help is okay?
• When do you back off?

Answer from Sarah Williams (mom of 1): ‎ 1. Encouragement, constant nagging and direction (not so independent); 2. It's not wrong at all to steer them in a certain direction; 3. Give your child any amount of help that is necessary; and 4. Never back off!

Answer from Nancy R. (mom of 1): Give them the help they ask for–it is their project and they learn nothing if you do it for them.

Answer from Nikki Escobar (mom of 3): Some kids need a lot of guidance regardless of how smart they are. Tyler just won first place in the science fair but he told me it's because I made him do all this extra work and found a journal for him to write out.

Answer from MaryEllen Thomas (mom of 4): As a teacher and mom, I have to tell you that even though they say "independent," they do not really mean it. Your child will be the only one that has Q-tips hanging instead of a perfectly constructed (i.e., your dad is an engineer) solar system. I learned this the hard way when I allowed my daughter to do her project all by herself. When I saw the high-rise constructor sets, I nearly fell down. The other interesting fact is that I will not allow my children to be unsupervised on the computer. The projects that my third grader gets are crazy. Is she really going to search, write, and give a report at the age of 8 without my help? Maybe, but I will never let her go it alone again, lesson learned.