Parent and child parking! 12 and 9 year old?!

[AnySecondNow]

Just had a row with a woman in Tesco car park. I waited 15 minutes for parking - have to carry a fairly solid 6 month old to the shop (post cesarean - still not 100%!)

Anyway, this family were parked in child and parent bay with a 12 year old and a 9 year old. Both very capable of walking and opening doors! I commented that she was rude to park there, she said she was entitled to. Then her husband complained about me to the management!!!

Wtf!? Ainu??! Parent and child surely means young child that needs assistance??!

AliceInUnderpants because if you have a travel system you take the car seat out to clip it into the pram base IYSWIM.

I always thought the p&c spaces were slightly wider so that it was easier to load a child from a car seat into a trolley, or buggy.

If people had a bit of common sense and thought for others, the supermarket car park world would be a much nicer place.

But you don't have to take it out, if you know your in a car park likely to be tight surely sensible option would be to not take it out? Anyway babies aren't supposed to spend long amounts of time in car seats so it is better for them to be taken out and put into the carrycot/trolley seat etc.

Baby April you must have tiny car doors if you think them a gimmick?? Mine won't open wide enough to get DS into his seat unless I'm in an end space or a P&C space! If I'm alone what do you suggest I do? Sit him on the floor whilst I reverse or put him in the footwell perhaps?? He's outgrown his bucket seat (very tall for age) but doesnt reliably sit up yet and is in a stage 0+1 seat which stays in the car so he'd be lay the floor??

Munchey if I can manage to lift a wriggly 7 year old with poor muscle control in from a normal space then I am sure it's not that hard to do it with a baby!

It's fine, I don't care who parks in them.

They should be furthest away from the store then those who truly can't use would be the only ones using them. For most it's to save little Johnnynfrom getting wet or wanting to get as close to the store as possible.

There are so many people who believe their situation trumps everyone elses.

Whether it be I have a young child, I have two children, mine won't behave, I can't control them, I/the children have a disability, my parent has just had surgery.

What do these people do if the P&C spaces are full - go home?

I cant remember if it was on here or elsewhere but I once read someone asking another person how all these people who couldn't manage in supermarkets managed at places like Legoland which doesn't have P&C spaces apparently (I've never been so don't know). But it seemed a valid question. .

RainbowsandUnicorns they don't get wet in our Tescos. Ours is roofed.

Munchy
Is it possible you might need to look for a car with smaller doors?
Shopping needs not be so stressful, l'm sure.

Depends how wide the space is?! And how wide your car is a lot of spaces local to me you struggle to get into the car yourself squeezing between the car next to you in a regular space . I agree with the not being in car seats long I've only done it when I'm literally nipping in and he's been asleep . The point of the P&C spaces is that they are wider to allow you to open your doors wide enough to strap kids in that's not supposition it's fact that their purpose

Yeah because that's my main consideration when spending thousands of pounds on a car not its suitability for the job (which is more than just a family car for us) but how large it's doors are They are large because it is large as it must be to fulfil its purpose.

I think there is definitely an argument for wider parking spaces for all
I lived abroad for years. No need for special parent parking spaces. All the room around was magnificent!
They still had the spaces allocated for the equivalent of blue badge holders. In my opinion, they are way more imperative!

Sirzy true but if I'm literally just popping into Tesco for 5-10 minutes to get some bread and milk etc, (which is normally all I am doing these days as I get my main Tesco shop delivered to avoid all this hassle), then having to take a pram carrycot etc just seems unnecessary and faffy. Plus I don't always want to wake the baby if she is asleep. Also unless you have a massive boot, fitting pram carrycot, pram base and shopping in the boot isn't easy.

I'd actually be all for having the P&C spaces at the back of the car-park. That's what I tend to do anyway if the P&C are full.

maybe leave the car seat IN THE CAR and let the poor baby stretch and wiggle a bit?

It does annoy me a bit when I see older kids jump out of the car without needing the extra room

Dd2 used to be able to jump out of the car. Didn't mean she didn't have her disability, what it did mean was that because at that point she couldn't feel pain, it was bloody dangerous to do so. But she did, they still know her by her first name in A&E.

I once had to get a kindly member of the public to stand with my trolley as I loaded children into it because there wasn't room by the car.

I was a foster carer for under 3s. There were two babies and two toddlers in the car. I loaded the babies, thanks to lovely member of the public, then led both toddlers out by hand. Luckily the toddlers were very well trained!

I miss those days...

Can I ask why people are talking of taking baby infant carriers out of the car at the supermarket? Why do you do that? A car seat stays in a car surely?

I had a 3 door car when DS1 and DS2 were babies. When they were in rear facing car seats, I used to have to take the car seat off its base and put it on the front seat of the car to get the baby in and out of the car seat safely.
I could probably have just about managed getting baby DS1 out and in of a car seat left in place on the back seat, but no chance with baby DS2. Not with DS1's toddler seat in the back on the other side of the car.

So.... car seat out of car to be placed on front seat, baby out of car seat and placed in trolley or pushchair.

I wouldn't have needed as much space for parking if I'd had a 5 door car to drive around in, because then I'd have been able to easily remove the baby from the car seat without moving the car seat.

The child parent spaces are surely for parents that need extra wide spaces - such as when they have little kids who they need to strap in or when they need to remove car seats or if an older child needs a wheelchair etc.

Surely once the kids can get in and out of the car on their own you don't need an extra wide space unless the child has a health issue which means they can't walk very far.

Dawndonnaagain I'm not going to justify everything I say but yes I do get slightly annoyed when I see someone get out of the car who doesn't require the extra room at that very moment. That is not to say that I would every dream of telling someone they shouldn't park there or even think they shouldn't park there as I am aware people have different needs but it just crosses my mind as I drive past! I carry on and find another space that is on an end or at the back as I find the extra space getting DS out of the car very helpful!

I would much rather you have that space if needed for your daughter but I'm not going to apologise for being briefly annoyed at something that I then give no further thought to unless I read a post like this and it reminds me about it.

In fact it also annoys me that it seems no matter what is posted on here someone always jumps on you and expects you to think about everyone else at every second of your day but in reality my main focus (in the above situation) is how I'm going to get my 8 week old out of the car if I can't find a space that doesn't allow me to open the door by more than just a slight gap. Realistically thinking I know there are other people who need the spaces more and I wouldn't argue with that.

Op if you have slept in 6 months you should not be driving let alone driving with your baby. Use online shopping till you can carry your baby .

My kids were young before they had parent and child parking spaces but I just got a car with sliding rear doors so it was never a problem. I wonder why cars with sliding rear doors aren't more popular. 🤔

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Dawndonnaagain I have just reread your post and what you actually took offence to was me saying jump because your daughter hurts herself when she jumps but can't feel it? All I meant was to get out of the car with little space and quickly! No need for the either. If I thought about every thing that anyone could have wrong with them before posting then I would be here all day! Try not to take personal offence from things which were never intended to offend.

Elland I don't really need the extra room but I need to park near the pedestrian bit so that DS is out of the roadway as fast as possible. At Tesco, that means P&P. It doesn't at Sainsbo or Asda so I tend to go there if poss.

At both latter supermarkets, they have much wider spaces which mean that the P&C ones are much less highly sought.

I have dents in both front doors from twats in supermarket car parks so I can totally see why people use P&C when they're not dealing with a car seat

I never took the car seat in. They are so difficult to carry.
I had a brilliant blanket/wrap thingy with a hood and feet. You could put it on the baby to take them out, put them in the car seat (hood off) and take them out and use it to line the trolley seat.

Hood back on, wrap round in the chill aisle and when you leave the shop.

intothedeep I have a 3 door car with my dd, I just climb in the back and then I can put her into the sling before we even get out of the car. If I'm just getting her out, like at home I move the seat forward and lean over her to take her out, I don't take the whole seat out at all now.
Rather than bigger parking spaces, maybe everyone just needs smaller cars.