While driving the Baby to see the doctor in his new car, Earl becomes upset that Fran brought the Baby a cupcake to eat in the car. When the Baby drops the cupcake, Earl picks it up, not watching the road and nearly getting them in an accident, and then eats the cupcake, making the Baby cry. They then get pulled over by Officer Bettleheim, who asks for Earl's license. After handing over his drivers license, it turns out that the officer asked for Earl's parenting licence, revealing he's on the Parenting Patrol. Earl soon gets three citations and gets sentenced to having to take a parenting test the next morning. Earl doesn't study, feeling confident that he doesn't need to, but ends up failing every answer and gets his license suspended. With Fran being the only licensed parent, Officer Bettleheim is sent to monitor the Sinclair household to make sure Earl doesn't do any unlicensed parenting, but after making her own decisions as opposed to what the manual says and later getting fed up with the kids, she gets her license taken away as well. Officer Bettleheim, who has a parenting license despite not being a parent, takes over watching the Sinclair kids. But when Bettleheim has trouble getting the kids to get along and learns that Robbie scratched the car after hitting his motorcycle, Bettlehim takes out his gun and points at the kids. Fran crosses the "no parenting" line and gives Battleheim a talking to. He doesn't know what came over him, having been unprepared for those kids, Baby especially, and Fran and Earl have their licenses back.
This episode provides examples of:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Earl gets citations for yelling at the baby, setting a bad example in front of the Baby (by cursing in front of the Baby), and eating the Baby's cupcake.
- Bait-and-Switch: Right after Earl drives off the road as a result of picking up the cupcake the Baby dropped and getting mad at him, Earl gets pulled over and asked to bring out his license. Earl thinks Officer Bettleheim means his drivers license, only for Bettleheim to reveal that he meant his parenting license.
- Both Sides Have a Point: After Fran and Earl get their parenting licenses back from Officer Bettleheim in exchange for promising never to tell the Parent Patrol about him pulling a gun on the Sinclair kids, Earl concludes that once again, Fran is right and that he's had to learn another lesson, this one being that good parenting comes from the heart and not from a manual. Fran tells Earl that he seems to have learned a lot from his parenting manual and that she seems to have learned a lesson as well; good parenting starts from the heart, but when you need a little help, you can find it in a manual. Earl asks Fran if the moral isn't black or white, but a little of both, then says it's something you don't normally see on television.
- Continuity Nod: "Smoo" is still a curse word.
- Crocodile Tears: Lampshaded by Earl after he eats Baby's cupcake."Ah, quit faking before I give you something to really cry about!"
- Disproportionate Retribution: Zigzagged. One father at parenting class says that he got his parenting license taken away just because he missed a diaper change, which would seem to be this trope, but the father then reveals that he hadn't changed the diaper for a week.
- The Dog Bites Back: Baby tells Officer Bettleheim that Earl stole his cupcake and ate it, which is the third strike that gets Earl's parenting license suspended.
- Epic Fail: While not entirely his fault, each of Earl's attempts to deal with Baby's behavior at the parenting class winds up as such that he outright flunks the class and loses his license.
- Grounded Forever: In the epilogue, it is said that for scratching the car Robbie is serving six to ten years in his room.
- Imaginary Friend: One of the lessons taught at parenting class is how to cope with one of these. Earl ends up killing Baby's friend Snookie with an imaginary gun, which results in Earl failing the class.'
- Kick the Dog: Earl eating Baby's cupcake, which makes him cry.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Earl gets this after upsetting Baby by eating his cupcake. Baby drives in the final stake by saying this, resulting in Bettleheim taking away Earl's parenting license.
- As a result of him drawing a gun at the Sinclair children, Bettleheim get suspended from the Parenting Patrol until "He's thought good and hard about his actions."
- Mama Bear: Earl and Fran have to stay behind yellow tape after both their licenses are taken away, but when Bettleheim points a gun at the kids, she crosses it to stop him.
- Moral Event Horizon: Officer Bettleheim, a Parent Patrol officer, is left in charge of the three Sinclair children after Earl and Fran lose their parenting licenses. While Earl and Fran may be known to be poor parents, at least they wouldn't even think of pulling a gun on the kids, which Bettleheim does after Charlene reveals that Robbie scratched Earl's new car after colliding into his motorcycle. While Bettleheim is regretful for doing this, his actions result in him being suspended from Parent Patrol until he has thought hard about what he had done.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Officer Bettleheim doesn't know what came over him when he pointed a gun at the kids.
- Precision F-Strike: Earl yells "smoo" after getting his first ticket, which gets him a second ticket for cursing in front of Baby.
- Profanity Police: A literal example with Officer Bettleheim; when Earl tries unsuccessfully to bribe him out of his citation for yelling at Baby, he says "Smoo", a form of dinosaur profanity that was the subject of a previous episode, "Baby Talk". Officer Bettleheim gives Earl another citation for this.
- Rule of Three: Once a parent breaks three parenting rules, their license to parent is revoked;
- Earl's three citations are for yelling at Baby, cursing in front of him, and eating his cupcake.
- Fran's three citations are for not putting Baby to bed at his designated bedtime, not letting Robbie choose his own schedule when he wants to watch television before he does his homework, and yelling at Baby when he messes up her laundry.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: When Officer Bettleheim loses it and points a gun at the children, Fran crosses the yellow tape she's supposed to stay behind and stops him.
- Striptease: Baby, citing an itchy diaper, does this to annoy Earl as he tries to study for his parenting license renewal. He even sings the corresponding song as he does it.
- Watch the Paint Job: Earl wants nothing to happen to his new car, and the plot starts because he gets mad at the Baby for eating in the car. Later, Officer Bettleheim loses it after learning that Robbie scratched the car after running into his motorcycle.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Officer Bettleheim enforces the rules in the parenting manual by the book, even ones that wouldn't be too consequential to the kids in a negative way (such as when Fran told Robbie to do his homework before watching television as opposed to letting Robbie pick his schedule or when she decided to let the Baby take a nap a little later instead of at his regular time). During the time that his license is revoked, Earl isn't even allowed to deny Robbie permission to borrow his car or stop the Baby from taking off his diaper.
- Would Hurt a Child: After being sentenced to a parenting test, Earl hopes to be able to pass it to get his parenting license renewed. In the first test, he tries to tolerate Baby's behavior when he pretends to have his milk spilled, but when Baby tosses his milk carton at him, Earl loses his temper and strangles Baby, not unlike what Homer Simpson does to Bart. Baby isn't fazed because he knows that this infraction will cause Earl to fail his test.
