Britney, cover girl for Bad Parents magazine?

When my wife and I had our first child about 18 months ago, it was a moment filled with every positive emotion known to man — and a little bit of fear. I barely knew how to change a diaper. How was I possibly going to keep our baby safe from harm?

Fortunately, the hospital helped by making sure we were at least prepared to make that first trip home safely. We could not take the little guy with us until our car seat had been checked, double-checked and properly certified. The doctors had no idea whether we were bringing him home to a mansion or a shelter, or feeding him infant formula or cold pizza, but they made sure that he would be transported safely to wherever we were going.

There's a reason why that's emphasized so much: Car seats save lives. Of course, for them to be effective, you have to actually use them.

Which brings us to Britney Spears.

The former Mouseketeer put her cartoon-like reasoning skills on display by driving off from a Malibu Starbucks with her four-month-old in her lap and one hand on the wheel, a display frowned upon even in Hollywood.

That got her a visit from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office, though it doesn't appear any charges are forthcoming since the deputies didn't actually witness any crimes taking place. Had she actually been pulled over, the cops would have had a laundry list of potential violations to choose from.

Celebrities and babies have always been an awkward combination. At best, they combine to fuel a cottage paparazzi industry of tabloid mother-and-child photos, or the baby-as-accessory spreads in sundry magazines. At worst, Michael Jackson dangles his infant son over a balcony railing for reasons nobody can fathom.

Obviously, nobody has ever confused Britney Spears with an expert in semiconductor physics (well, except these folks), but her latest misstep surges past the Vegas marriage and the whole Kevin Federline thing to become the dumbest thing she's ever done.

Spears claims she put her baby in her lap because she was freaked out after a disturbing encounter with the paparazzi. Even assuming that she's telling the truth rather than just playing the p-card, it was idiotic.

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