Can Britney Escape Paparazzi Pummeling?

May 19, 2006 — -- The world has put Britney Spears' parenting skills under a microscope -- and while some say that no person could withstand such relentless scrutiny -- there is little doubt it's taking a toll on her career.

On Friday, New York City tabloids again pictured the 21-year-old pop star in an unsettling photo with her 8-month-old son. This time she's nearly dropping the child as she walks from Manhattan's Ritz Carlton Hotel with a glass in one hand and her son in the other.

The papers report that Britney's glass was filled with water, and that she merely stumbled on the hem of her jeans while wearing open-toed shoes. And while the boy wasn't hurt, and the minor near-mishap is something any parent can relate to, the publication of the photos shows that Britney's public pummeling seems to have no end.

"Momentum is not on her side. It's gotten to the point where the Britney Watch is for her badness, not her goodness," says Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at the NPD Group, a media consulting firm.

"The best thing for her to do is disappear for a while, and I mean that in all sincerity, because in the short term, even if she tries to do something good, the perception is that she can't do anything right. She has to leave the celebrity spotlight for a while, concentrate on her career, and re-emerge. Luckily, the public is forgiving."

The near drop was just the latest in Britney's motherhood woes. Just days earlier, she was pictured driving with Sean Preston strapped the wrong way in his baby seat as she drove through Hollywood in her Mini-Cooper convertible. Child experts say children less than a year old should be seated facing backward, not forward.

The incident might not have made headlines at all, except that Britney had been photographed behind the wheel of a car in February, driving with the infant on her lap -- with no car seat at all -- prompting a visit to her home by sheriff's deputies at the request of child welfare authorities.

Spears was visited by authorities again in April, after the baby reportedly fell from his highchair.