Rich and famous are often clueless

Who says parenting makes you grow up?

I’ve been thinking about that since I saw the now infamous photograph of Britney Spears behind the wheel of an SUV with her infant son propped up in her lap.

In case you’ve been on Bora Bora, or the cable was out, I’ll fill you in:

It seems that while she was waiting for her bodyguard to come out of Starbucks with her morning coffee, Britney took her 4-month-old son out of his car seat and put him in her lap. Nothing wrong with that.

But, then she spotted the paparazzi. And, as soon as the bodyguard returned and got back in the car, Spears took off, one hand on the wheel and the other around the infant still sitting in her lap. Plenty wrong with that.

At first she defended her actions, saying that she had been fleeing a terrifying encounter with the photographers. Later, when pressed, Spears said, “It’s kind of like I made a mistake and so it is what is, I guess.”

Oh. Ok.

I hate to say I told you so, but you know, when Britney announced her pregnancy I wondered aloud in a column if she fully grasped the enormity of what she had done.

“In Britney Spears’ world it’s fashionable to have a baby. It’s also fashionable to carry a Chihuahua in your purse,” I wrote. “I just hope Spears knows the difference.”

After looking at the photo and reading what she said in her defense, I’m not sure she does.

The photo shows Spears – not looking particularly afraid – behind the wheel. You can see the baby in her lap. Her bodyguard is sitting in the passenger seat talking on a cell phone.

What do you want to bet that the first thing the bodyguard did when he got in the car, before Britney hit the gas, was put the coffee in a cup holder. For safekeeping.

The baby (the baby!) was left to chance.

I’m sorry. I just don’t buy the fleeing the paparazzi in terror story. If concern for her child was what drove her, then why didn’t she get the baby buckled back into his seat as quickly as she could and turn the car over to the burly bodyguard?

I’m a mother. That’s what I would have done.

When you think about it, there isn’t a whole lot you have to do to care for a healthy 4-month-old child. You need to love him, feed him and keep him safe. That’s about it.

Driving off with an infant trapped between his mother’s body and the car’s airbag was a dangerous move.

Granted, this is her first child and Britney is a young mother. But at 24 she’s not that young.

I can’t help but wonder if growing up as a pampered diva dulls one’s sense of what’s real and what’s fantasy. For the most part, unless you’ve just robbed a convenience store or you’re the police, you’re not likely to be involved in a high-speed chase. But in Britney’s make-believe world it happens with alarming regularity. How many starlets called 911 to report fender benders and close encounters with pursuing photographers last year?

Spears and others like her choose to live their lives in the fast lane. Unfortunately, babies don’t get a choice. They’re at the mercy of the adults who care for them.

And sadly too many, even the offspring of the rich and famous, don’t fare as well as a $5 cup of coffee.