My kids found a plate-coloring arts-and-crafts kit in our garage, and spent the bulk of their weekend designing and coloring a set of two plates.

My 7-year-old’s plate had 3 colorful shapes of fish, immersed in a turquoise blend of green and blue. It was beautiful, looked just like the bottom of a tropical ocean.

My 10-year-old’s plate featured bold bright colors. It had a red dragonfly at the center, a yellow background, and a green rim all around the plate, with simple and artistic designs around the dragonfly.

The kids were really proud. They left them in the kitchen to dry, and shared happy conversations about how they couldn’t wait to use these plates.

After I dropped the kids off at school, I noted that the plates were already dry. So, I decided to clean them. I figured that the proper use of plates requires a pile of food on top of them. So, these plates need a good rubbing to accommodate food consumption.

I put both plates in the sink, and turned the water on them. Then I turned to prepare my sponge with soap, when I turned back to the other side of my double sink, I saw with horror that nearly the entire sink was streaking with bright colors rushing to the drain of the sink.

I froze momentarily, CRAP!!…should have read the directions first. I turned my head to look at the box these plates had came from. The innocent looking box was still sitting on our kitchen island.

Oh….NO!! I shut off the water. The bright colors of the plates had melted all together by the splashes of the running water, still draining continuously onto the base of the sink.

I took a deep breath, then proceeded to give the plates a good scrub with my ready soapy sponge. I concluded that I am better off with naked plates, than leaving behind strong evidence of just how badly I had assaulted my children’s art projects.

As the day went on, I began to dread the time when my children would come home. I knew they would be livid when they set their eyes on these clean plates.

I know!!! A bright idea popped in my head. I will take the children straight to Baskin Robbins after school today! What kind of kids would throw bad tantrums at their mother after she just fed them huge ice cream.