Parent and child spaces should be for those with children 5 and under

As a disabled person and Blue Badge holders, I do not need random self appointed parking attendants advocating for me by accosting a person. If you truly care, please report it and hopefully they’ll get fined. They won’t. They just want to be the big I am. I really don’t want anyone to get in a punch up either over a parking space. It’s not worth the risk. Don’t starts fights with strangers with your small children in tow!

You're both foolish. One of these days you'll challenge somebody who will not take kindly to your unasked for views. You're traceable, however much you think you're not and if you have your children with you then you're taking risks on their behalf also.

Report in store if it bothers you that much.

YABU. People with children have become so entitled these days that they will actually drive home if they can’t find a parent and child parking space.

Parent and child spaces only exist because they are a way for a supermarket to attract custom. You are not entitled to them whatever age your child is and they are NOT in the same category as disabled spaces which are a legal right.

I say this as someone who has 4 children.

It's good I'm not phased about what people think then.

Problem is there are so many issues at play. When I was much younger/a little kid - 1970s - we never even had car seats. Just got plopped onto the back seat. No seatbelt, nothing, just rolling around like a billiard ball! The spaces were OK sized, the cars were generally small. (Looked normal at the time, but look tiny looking back.) Always easy to get in and out.

Then my brother came along a decade later, (in the 1980s,) and he had a very basic child's car seat. Again, small-ish car, no issues getting in and out. Stopped using a car seat at around 4. Then used seatbelts. (Law from 1987.)

There were no child and parent spaces. (Not that I recall.)

My DC came along mid-late 1990s, and still the car wasn't massive (we always had a car around 10 years old, so would have had a 1980s car.) We used child zones - they were quite new-ish then, and some places were only just starting to have them. We got in and out OK in child zones, AND normal ones (as I said, small-ish car.) We stopped using baby seats when they were about 5 or 6. I am pretty sure there was not a law that said older children (7-8+) had to be in car seats then.

Fast forward 22-23-ish years, and the cars are now MASSIVE. Every other woman and her dog has a giant ass 4WD, she can barely see over the steering wheel, I see many women struggling to manoeuvre in these cars (and park!) and she has limited view behind her (can't see things low down.)

I don't mean to just pick on women sorry, but I see way more women driving these big ass 4WD than men, and some of them do seem to struggle a bit.

I remember an experiment on the TV some 5 years ago, where 24 three to four year olds stood directly behind a large 4WD car, (in 3 rows of 8,) and the driver could only see EIGHT of them; the back row. So the vision out of them is limited too.

So yeah, they are so clucking big that they can't use normal parking spaces now because they can't get the door open properly, let alone get kids out! Even many 'normal' cars now are bulky, because this is the way they are made.

I think so many people have the big 4WD spacious beasts, because they are peddled to families, as amazing 'family cars' where you can pack up half your house to go away for the day/weekend/week etc.

Oh, and the child seats that they have to sit in now til they're TWELVE (and often taller than the fecking mother,) are so big, that a normal/small sized car is a struggle too.

We have been sold this shit, big bulky daft-sized cars, and huge fecking car seats, but still have the stupid wanky tiny car spaces. (And also new build homes still seem to have a garage that would only fit a smart car, or a fiat 500 in!) So these cars have been peddled to people, but the garages and car sparking spaces don't suit!

So yeah, people do need these child and baby spaces unfortunately, as the normal ones are laughably tiny, and many peoples cars (especially those with babies/young children) are HUGE. Heck I occasionally struggle to get out of the car (when there are cars parked either side,) in a normal space with no babies, and my car is a small-ish saloon!

There does not need to be a limit of 5 to the child in the zones though @seize as children have to be in a car seat now til they are 12!. Although a 12 y.o. does not need to be in a child's car seat when they are over 4 ft 5. My 2 DC were as tall as me at 12. (I am 5 ft 3.) I think they were 4 ft 5 at about 8 or 9! I reckon most children of 12 would be over 4 ft 5.

When your child hits 4 ft 5, no matter what their age, they can sit like an adult ... (In the seat with a seatbelt on.) Unless the child has SN of course. The parents using child zones are not 'lazy fuckers' even if the child is 10 or 11, they are quite entitled to use them. (I mean if the 10-11 y.o. is 6 foot -well maybe not then!) 😁

Child Car Seat Laws In The UK - Which?

100% this. ^

Yeah that is annoying. Just leave the trolley in the middle of the car park, to roll into peoples cars!

Lucky you for being able to use a sling from birth. It’s not always possible.
Same goes for how busy the car parks are.

This

I used a sling too. Not superior, just correcting assumptions that a pram is the only way. If a pram is difficult in carparks then maybe try an alternative.

No, I didn't say that at all. I was merely responding to the suggestion that I hadn't taken my dd to the supermarket when she was very little, and explaining what I did.

I don't think there is anything wrong with taking a pram into the supermarket. I'm also not sure why you can't put a baby in a pram in a normal parking space. But if you find it difficult to do this, other options are available.

Hopefully people will continue to laugh at you and not feel bad about it.

So you basically think your way is the superior way

@Mummyoflittledragon

"I had this about a year ago with a woman, who accosted me. I have a blue badge and chronic fatigue. Every step counts some days, which is why I need the badge as pathetically the P&C spaces are closer to the Sainsbury’s than the blue badge ones."

Very similar to my experience and I'm so sorry to hear that happened to you too.

I used a sling. Never took the pram.

And I've never lived anywhere where the car park isn't quieter a little walk from the shop.

I don't know... I find it hard to get too upset about things like this.

Although I DO get annoyed by people who don't return their trolleys to the trolley collection area! I watched a woman and her daughter (who was probably about 10 or 11) very carefully park their trolley in the middle of the path, rather than return it to the trolley bay that was only marginally further away.
It's just so irritatingly stupidly lazy. It's such a minor thing, but like, you've gone out of your way to do it wrong and make it harder for the staff?

My niece was very comfortably still in the trolley seat at 3. And at 5 holding mum’s hand… I think this is a you problem rather than a generic one.
Babes in arms/ babies of that age are in the pram. Which needs to be out the way… because they can’t get out of the way of cars… I’m not sure why this is so difficult for you.

Ah do you have a brand new babby @ttcat37 ? Congratulations if so! It all feels so complicated in those early days, don't worry it'll settle down and feel less intimidating soon. Hope you're getting a bit of sleep, those first few weeks with my first were awful.

Your local shops must have more parking than mine. It is busy- always. It’s hard to park full stop, let alone find a space with another space free next to it and then hope nobody parks next to you.
You clearly didn’t have to go to the supermarket when your baby was too small for the trolley seats.

At 5 and 3?! No 😂

My point is that babes in arms aren't more vulnerable. Because they're in a responsible adult's arms.

Can you not use the seats in the trolley…?

I’m sure it’s terribly difficult for you but my point still stands that babes in arms are more vulnerable and should take priority over parent and child spaces. Thankfully my local supermarket and shopping centre don’t agree with the ‘multiple parents on this thread’ and the spaces are marked as for pram users only.

The space at the back of the car is not in the path of cars driving past, unless maybe you have a very long car the whole length of the parking space. The main danger is cars reversing, which you can look out for.

Yep, we have one local supermarket that has them right at the back of the car park with a safe walkway to the shop. They're always empty.

Miraculously, it seems that parents with young children at this shop are quite able to manage their kids without the extra space.

I am sure that there are some people with specific circumstances such as twins etc where the wider spaces are actually really valuable. For a lot of parents, though, I think the p&c spaces are just "VIP spaces reserved for parents", and rather than actually needing the space, they are simply outraged at the idea of someone who doesn't "qualify" stealing their privilege.

I park in parent & baby spaces if no disabled spaces. My Dc are 13 & 8. Both have autism so will walk out into cars, ones diabetic so in an emergency need the car close.

Nobody has the right to dictate to others how to use those spaces. You could simply park further away where there's nobody parked? It's a space issue for you, not a danger issue.

Yeah, one supermarket near me moved them and loads of parents complained on their FB page about having to walk from further away. I initially assumed they'd put them somewhere unsafe but the next time I went I saw that they'd been put at the back next to a covered walkway.

It did make me feel that the issue isn't really about safety but not wanting to walk, same as the people they get so cross with for using the spaces.