I must admit I briefly and un-seriously considered this, given that my son is an Olympic-level binky spitter: Two young parents in Michigan are possibly facing child abuse or neglect charges after a state trooper pulled them over and found their 4-week old baby (gender not given) with a pacifier taped to its face.
Unsurprisingly, the baby was also not secured in a car seat – it was just lying on the rear seat of the vehicle. And if they were stopped on the interstate, it's likely they were speeding.
The parents, who are 18 and 19 years old, were released pending charges. The grandparents currently have custody of the child. And they were lucky the trooper pulled them over when they did – a 4-month-old baby in suburban Seattle died last year when his 19-year-old mom taped a binky to his face.
I understand the frustration, I really do, since I spend untold minutes each day scooping my son's binky off the floor where he pitched it, rinsing it off, and replacing it, and I always have to have a couple of backups if we're out in the big germy world. But, seriously, do teen parents need to be told that not only does a baby need to stay in a car seat, but perhaps a one of those little pacifier tethers is a better solution?
Proof again that the ability to reproduce does not make you 1) a good parent or 2) possessed of common sense.
