I’ve never claimed to be the perfect parent.  In fact, when my kids were very little I made all kinds of obvious mistakes.  But I’ve noticed in the last couple of weeks a new one.

First there were all those parents who dragged their very small children down to the mall for the inauguration festivities.  Seriously, it was freezing, there were no facilities or room for children to play, no strollers allowed, and massive amounts of people for HOURS.  So there’s a new President.  Great!  But honestly, what exactly is a kid supposed to get out of that entire experience.  They can say there were there when?  That’s like me saying I saw the first moon landing from Cape Canaveral instead of safe at home.  Unless you’re on the frakking space ship it’s all the same.  Unless Obama could stop and take a picture with them, there’s no reason to drag your children down there.

And yesterday as I wandered through the autograph area at Phoenix Comicon I noticed Marina Sirtis holding an infant to her shoulder.  That baby couldn’t have been more than few days old.  My first thought was that “she’s got a baby?” and I wandered on.  A few minutes later I watched as the Father handed that same baby over to Wil Wheaton and I realized some fan was getting photo opportunities for a child who might never know it.

Now I know Mirina and Wil are decent (and likely clean) human beings who would not hurt the baby, and in fact were very touched by and loving to the tiny infant.  But the fact is, both of them had been shaking hands, signing whatever was handed to them, standing close to strangers for photo ops and generally NOT being in the most germ-free situation for HOURS and someone hands them a newborn.  What were the parents thinking?  Who else did they hand that kid off to for a stupid picture?

Taking your child into adult situations can be dangerous.  As well as inauguration day went, the whole area had disaster potential.  Imagine the panic of 2 million people had there been any terrorist activity – or even just some bigot making a statement – and how would you protect your child in that panic?  And there’s a reason we all talk about Con funk.  All those unwashed bodies spreading what have you and you’re taking an INFANT into that and handing it off to strangers?  Just because these people are on TV that doesn’t mean they didn’t shake hands with disease ten minutes before you stepped up.

Parents, please give your baby a couple of months to build up some sort of immune system before you take them out in crowded places.  Especially if you’re going to pass it around to strangers.  I think they’d rather be alive in the future than just a memory in a photo.