to wish that Parent and Child parking spaces were

[WoTmania]

Further from the shop?
The last couple of times I've been to the supermarket with children in tow I've seen

1. A young women talking on her mobile sitting on her own in her car which was in the P&T space nearest to the shop 2)Two able-bodied, childless young women come back to their car, get in and drive off. 3)A man sitting, obviously waiting for someone to come back while two boys (8 & 10ish) sat in the back.

Meanwhile, I end up having to park in an ordinary space and struggle to get my 3 children out of the car (I would go on my own normally but DH is working 12 hours, 6 days of the week s not around to look after them).

AIBU to think that if the P&T spaces were further from the shop less people would use them who don't need them. Walking a bit doesn't bother me. Trying to get 20 month old DD into her carseat while squeezing between my car and a big van parked right on the white line(as happened the other day, I erm 'rearranged' the mirrors but that's another AIBU) does.

I think they should be abolished entirely and replaced with disabled bays.

Its a parking space, life's too short

Oh my goodness - what a sense of entitlement some people have! Can you really not walk 200m from one end of the carpark to the other? Every supermarket I have ever been to has a path running from one end to the other, with bollards on each side and zebra crossings over the road part. Trolley bays every 50m or so. How did people do it before the advent of the car? Did they all get ill because sometimes it might have rained?
Crikey, I had no idea people could be so precious.

Its got nothing to do with how far you have to walk - its about being able to open the car door wide enough to get small ones in without damaging the car parked next to it.

Indeed purple - but people have been screaming blue murder at the thought of having to walk further if the Parent and Child bays were at the back of the car park.

Do those who support P & C spaces only take their children to supermarkets? Do you never go to parks, museums, the beach etc?

How do you cope there?

We take our son to supermarkets in the car, but walk to the park

We went to a supermarket the other day, and DS and I walked off while DH locked the car. An employee approached DH and told him he was parked in a p&c space. DH pointed us out and we waved, so it was fine, and I was very lpeased to see the spaces being policed.

I agree OP.

Great idea P and T at the back of the carpark. Just need to open the door of my small car to get toddler out of car seat, whilst carrying around a belly bump the size of a large pumpkin.

One of the posh grocery stores near where my mom lives in California has valet parking!

gapbear I don't think anyone has even complained about the issue of the distance (although some have expressed it is nice not to have to walk).

It is mainly an issue with being able to open the door - spaces are small cars and cars are big and I can still remember being absolutely distaught years ago when my (then) PFB was about 6 weeks old and I had to ask a stranger in the car park to hold her (she was in her infant carier) whilst I reversed out of a space where I couldn't open the door wide enough to get the seat in.

It took me about 20 mins to pick someone who looked least likely to run off with her

I haven't read all of this thread, so apologies if I'm repeating what someone else has said, but surely if you park at the furthest end of the car park you will get a space with nothing either side of you (and very unlikely anything will park there during the time you are at the supermarket - as there are normally a wealth of spaces to choose from in the deep dark end of the car park) - which you're not bothered about and means you don't have to use the parent and child spaces anyway.

I swear some people just use the parent and child spaces as some sort of weird status thing. Not you, OP, just a shopping observation!

Yeah nancy, I totally agree with you - it is an issue of width of space - but people have been whinging about how dangerous it is to walk across a car park with a baby and toddler.

I agree Lottery, it's maddness.

They're a marketing ploy, nothng more, nothing less.

I remember only a few years ago, going shopping with my Mother and parking in them . We we're technically a parent and child...

When you've got a trolley full of stuff including two children it's quite handy to put the trolley next to the car while you unload them (not so much the other stuff), instead of out at the back of the car. When you're unloading one, you have to leave the other out roasting. It is impossible to get two children out of a trolley in one go, trust me!

Yes if they weren't there everyone would cope, but as they're there and handy for the reason above it's annoying when they're taken up unecessarily.

But this is the thing - it's not the baby that's extra wide and needs more space.

It's the car seat.

Tiny babies should be in said seat as little as possible any way.

So - leave the car seat in the car!

If you abolished those bucket-type car seats for infants you'd do away with any need for this type of parking.

I've done the whole reversing car thing to get ds in the car. It is frustrating. And tear inducing in the early days.

I don't understand, Normality.
I've never taken the car seat out of the (small)car, but need the door open fully (or almost fully) to get child out of the car. More so when it's a forward facing car seat.

P&T spaces are not as important as disabled spaces.

However, I had SPD during pg and was on crutches for months. I once cried because I couldn't park in a P&T space as opening the door fully to get out was essential. Also, I couldn't have made it across the whole car park if they'd relocated the spaces.

I had a hormonal strop little whinge at the parking attendant who subsequently ushered me to a disabled space whenever P&T was full.

I've now found out that I may be eligible for a blue badge whilst pg this time

i think supermarkets shoukld have all bays wide enough for cars to be parked in without risk of being bumped by the next car door, then there would be no advantage to parking in the parent and child spaces.
Job done.

PS OP how do you not know that the people in your no 1 and 3 were not waiting for someone with a young child to come back to the car

I was at the supermarket looking for a p and t space (I would have chosen a normal space if one hadn't becxome available), An elderly couple were parked in one of the spaces nearest to the door, presumably they felt as if they had reason with a disabled sticker.

For me its the principle of the issue. If I had been parked in a disbled space without a disabled sticker, I am sure I`d have received some grief!

Do people really begrudge elderly people parking in P & T? I sure don't, even without a blue badge.

It's probably a lot harder for an older person to get out of car than a mum getting a baby out of a car door.

I don't think I live in an alternate universe. It can be a bit awkward at times but I've never not been able to get DD out, even if I get her out of a different door. I would have thought the same would apply to anyone able bodied.

As I said at the start - I don't think the spaces should exist as I don't see a use for them but obviously other people do.

spiderpig - 1 was sat on the phone and drove off. no child and other parent had appeared.