The One About the Lady Who Says Her 10-month-old Baby Was Disqualified From Baby-Crawling Race Because She's a Scooter

It took us a while to publish this because we couldn't believe it's a real story. But alas, this story is real and it's ridiculous. Back on July 7, the annual Baby Crawl-A-Thon was held in Lakeville, Minnesota and 10-month-old Berkley Bailey was first to cross the line in her heat. She was later disqualified -- thereby preventing her from snatching a trophy -- because instead of crawling the entire race course, she scooted. According to official rules, babies had to crawl on their hands and knees across the finish line.

The rules were established to make the competition fair and give everyone a level playing field, said Pan-O-Prog President Diana Neameyer. Berkley’s mom, Samantha Moore, said the rule is unfair to babies who have physical challenges or just a unique way of getting around. She said she did not think the rules would disqualify Berkley, her first child who has always crawled by pulling herself forward with her left side, dragging her right leg behind her and her right arm in the air. “That’s the only way we’ve ever seen our baby crawl,” she said. “That’s all she’s ever done. The doctor told us it was a crawl.” Neameyer said the issue first arose at the race last year when a baby crawled like a bear, on his hands and feet. He finished the race first, but was also disqualified, because Neameyer said, “When you do it that way, you are a speedster.” This year, they allowed eligibility for a baby who “army crawled” by pulling himself forward with his arms because his knees were on the floor and he was using his legs. “His belly was just dragging, that’s how I looked at it,” Neameyer said. A suggestion to hold a special race for scooters was rejected, because Neameyer said organizers do not think they will have many who only scoot. “We thought it was just a fluke that this kid wasn’t crawling,” Neameyer said. Moore said Berkley is the first child to her and husband Nick Bailey, both lifelong Lakeville residents. “It’s not necessarily like, oh my God, we needed her to win,” Moore said. “It’s just a baby crawl. It was more like she did really good and we didn’t really expect her to go that fast, but she did and then we’re disqualified.” She said many family members took time off work to watch the competition, then were disappointed that Berkley was disqualified. “It just kind of stunk because everyone was so excited about it,” Moore said. “I didn’t think it was fair to disqualify a baby for crawling differently.”

source: Sun Thisweek