Check out this demo: http://jsfiddle.net/53eP6/
<div class="container">
<span class="small">small text</span>
<div class="big">Big elements to be ignored</div>
</div>
I am looking to ignore the right element (which could be irregularly sized images in real-life scenarios).
The goal is for the parent element to have a fixed height based on padding and children's heights, rather than expanding to accommodate the height of the big element that I want to ignore.