Protective Parents?

Let us paint you a picture: sitting in a driveway is a black and white Mini Cooper. Through the large windows you see dad, in the drivers seat, mom in the back, sitting next to a small baby in a car seat. The car is running but still in park. You can’t hear what music might be on the radio but it appears as though mom and dad are enjoying a Gypsy Kings recording as they clap their hands above their heads…to the left side…and to the right. Upon closer inspection there doesn’t seem to be a rhythm to their movements and if you could hear inside the car, you’d hear mutterings from both parents beneath the sound of a baby wailing: “Did you get it? Oh! There’s another one! Hah! I smacked it! Die you disease-carrying bloodsucking mosquito!”

And another scenario: mom has her little baby in her Ergo carrier and is browsing through racks at a shop near Dupont Circle. A few feet away, a woman notices mom and babe and exclaims, “Oh! What a teeny baby! How old is she?” The complete stranger proceeds to fondle the baby’s exposed leg and pull back on the carrier to get a better look at the sleeping baby’s face. She says to her daughter, “Come look at this little baby!” At this point three thoughts or rather, scenarios go through the mother’s mind:

(A) Clutch the baby to your chest, locate the nearest exit and escape, now!
(B) Politely say to the woman: “May I offer you some hand sanitizer so that you may continue to paw at my newborn?”
(C) Securing the baby with one arm, roundhouse kick (see Chuck Norris) the woman while screaming, “get your hands off my baby!”

So, are we being overly protective? (Check all that apply.)
	No, babies are lunatic magnets.
	Yes, if you take a baby out, you have to expect the lunatics to come out.
	No, boy I could tell you some stories about some lunatics who wanted to hold my newborn.
	Yes, a little West Nile Virus will just make her hardier.
	No, in fact, you should probably consider moving out of that swamp they like to call our Nation’s Capital.
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