"Children of a Lesser Clod" is the twentieth episode of Season 12.
Synopsis[]
Homer suffers a knee injury during a Springfield YMCA basketball game, and uses his free time to take care of the neighborhood kids after Flanders asks Homer to babysit Rod and Todd. Soon, he turns it into a daycare center and becomes a candidate for the Springfield Nice Guy Awards, while the resentful Bart and Lisa plot to expose Homer for the neglectful, abusive jerk he truly is.
Full Story[]
Homer in his wheelchair
The family goes to the YMCA to attend one-time-only free classes, along with many other Springfieldians who admit they would never return to the YMCA and pay for any of the regular classes. Lisa takes gymnastics (and gets yelled at by the Russian coach for being too old), Bart gets tricked into taking an etiquette class by a black man dressed as a gangsta rapper (who happens to be the husband of the prim and proper etiquette teacher), and Homer participates in a basketball class for men over the age of thirty-five, but suffers a torn ACL after a dunk gone wrong (which was exacerbated by Homer falling off the gurney on his way to the hospital and trying to run to avoid paying the hospital bill, which includes expenses for haircuts and porno movies).
After Homer had his surgery, Dr. Hibbert told him that he can't go to work and he must stay home. Homer finds himself extremely bored, even going so far as attempting to cross-breed Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II. One evening, Ned wants Marge to babysit Rod and Todd while he attends a Chris Rock concert (that he misinterprets to be an abbreviation for a Christian Rock concert), but Marge is out identifying a body (which ends up being a very much alive Hans Moleman) so Ned asks Homer instead. The kids like having Homer babysitting them, which allows Homer to establish his own daycare center.
The children have reckless fun in the treehouse
Homer starts a daycare center (under Marge's ownership), "Uncle Homer's Day Care Center", to entertain himself, but makes Bart and Lisa feel like outcasts by ignoring them, giving Bart's jacket to Milhouse forcing them out of their bedrooms for a film crew that is making a documentary about him, and having them work long hours at night to cut out felt hearts in his honor. The daycare center is very successful and Homer earns a nomination for the "Good Guy Awards" ceremony. For the ceremony, Bart and Lisa splice in home movie footage of Homer at his worst (passed out on the floor drunk in his underwear during Christmas, losing Maggie in a poker game to Moe and chasing Bart down the street while waving a flail, which he misidentifies as a mace) to prove to everyone that Homer's nice guy persona is a fake. The audience becomes outraged and Homer angrily strangles Bart on stage. Everyone in the audience becomes horrified by Homer's behavior, and decides to prevent their kids from being watched over by him. Homer then steals the kids and escapes from the ceremony (followed by Chief Wiggum and a mob of angry parents) and puts all the kids in a van, leading a police chase until he crashes the van into a tree, and tries to escape before Chief Wiggum stops him. After three mistrials, Homer apologizes to Bart and Lisa for neglecting them and promises to take care of his own children (including the perpetually-ignored Maggie) instead of the neighborhood kids. Bart, Lisa and Maggie are happy to hear this and forgive Homer while eating from the craft services table that the Teamsters were supposed to pick up at 5pm.
