Couldn't That Be Considered Child Abuse?.......

Maybe it's just me, but I think people who take infants to football games are guilty of some form of child abuse.

And I think we can add baseball, basketball, hockey, gymnastics, lacrosse, volleyball, tennis, badminton, rodeo, square dancing, skeet shooting, ice skating, roller derby, and rugby to the list.

We went to watch the Falcons play today (they won - yay!), something Hubby and I had never done in our 12.5 years of marriage.

Our seats were at the top of the Georgia Dome. Seriously. There were two . . . count 'em, two . . . rows behind/above us.

When Atlanta scored and there were fireworks, we were looking DOWN on them.

The Chick-Fil-A people dropped little parachuting cows from the upper reaches of the Dome, I'm guessing with coupons for chicken sandwiches for the lucky fans who nabbed them. We didn't have a shot at one, since there would have had to be a serious UPDRAFT going on for the cows to reach us.

A couple came teetering up the steps to our section carrying a baby that must have been born in the parking lot right before they came in. I mean, it was TEENY. It was not in a carrier, nor did I see evidence of one. The dad was carrying this baby in one arm and holding onto the railing for dear life with the other hand.

Another mom came huffing up the stairs wearing one of those baby carriers in front, where the kid is facing her with his legs splayed out to each side because she wasn't a small woman. That kid is going to need hip replacement surgery before he's two years old. Or maybe he'll just be an excellent cowboy.

Come on, people.

How much enjoyment is there for an infant at a football game? How much enjoyment is there for the PARENTS of those infants?

Aren't there risks involved? They sell alcohol at those places. Drunks abound (though not as many as there are at UGA games, where alcohol is NOT sold/allowed. Hmmmmmm), and the noise is considerable.

Really, why?

If they don't have grandparents nearby, perhaps they should pay for a sitter.

If they can't afford a baby-sitter, perhaps they shouldn't have shelled out the $55 per ticket for that particular stratospheric location.

If they can't stand to be away from the baby even for three hours, perhaps they should stay home and watch the game on television. TV coverage is excellent, and you get replays.

If they don't trust anyone else to keep the baby, what about the 30,000 or so STRANGERS they've plopped yon baby down in the middle of?

I'm just sayin'......