Was she being a bit rude?

[Moofreemum1]

Prepared to be told if I was but I don't think I done anything wrong.
Picked my DS up from nursery they have a car park with normal sized spaces. I was within the lines and if anything parked more to the right because the car on the left of me was parked really close to my left. I opened the left back passenger door to get son in and did it gently but I had to touch the car on the left to get my son it because it was that much of a tight squeeze. I didn't bang my door onto the car next to me at all. As I was strapping him in the woman came out and grabbed my door and said "I'll just grabbed this as it's touching my car" not in a nice tone. I said oh I'm sorry. She then started wiping her car next to me which I feel she was doing to make a point because I made sure it was ok. I couldn't go through the other side because I would have touched that car too so pointless. How was I suppose to get him in without touching a car. Surely she would understand? She works at the nursery so not one of the mums

Moofreemum1, I agre, it's tricky when the child is too young. People often touch other cars with their doors without leaving a mark if opened gently but I do often put my hand for just in case.

You could get a door protector or use a cut down pool noodle their. quite handy.

She was being a silly cow. Not the end of the world for your door to touch hers in this situ.
Avoid parking near her again and hope a flatulent pigeon flies over her car

It’s not a new thing, be polite, don’t touch other people’s belongings. If you let your door gently rest on another car it will scrape if you move about inside your car (I leant my car door on a brick wall once).

Like I've said I personally wouldn't like it but id understand in these circumstances because I've been here myself numerous times especially when no parent spaces are available. Thank God I don't have a baby carseat anymore, that was fun at times.

The amount of times people have slammed doors onto my car is insane. They shit themselves when they realise I’m sat in it too. That was my old car and didn’t care. Now I’ve just spent a lot of money on my new car and I’ve never had opportunity to do so before so if you did this to my new car I would be raging I must admit, she didn’t know you were being careful. She’s probably calmed down now as would i lol

Held it as well as putting a baby in the car ? Have you tried to do that ??

Good idea about using the door protector something like foam door guards.

I’m more concerned that this woman was staff or owner of the nursery that your child goes to. You’d think that she would have been friendlier to you given that she must have a relationship of some sort with your child. She could still have made the same point, but not in such a rude way. I’d be concerned about my child being looked after in an environment that didn’t prioritise courtesy and reasonable conflict resolution- that’s like the most important thing they learn at nursery!

I used to keep some old tracksuit bottoms in the car and put them between my car and the car next to me. You can't hold a door and strap kids in at the same time.

Realistically, sometimes it is unavoidable to touch another car with your cars door, unfortunately this often happens where drivers have parked terribly or where spaces are ridiculously small. In such instances, it is always reasonable to ensure you are being careful when you attempt to leave or enter the car, that is all you can do.

Disregard this incident and don't give it any further thought. It's not worth it. We will always encounter passive aggressive and rude people in life, they're often not worth the head-space.

You were careful, you did not damage her car, your conscience is clear.

Enjoy your evening.

I’m with you OP. Not ideal but if you have to then resting a car door won’t leave a mark.

Hanging jumpers over doors, putting toddlers in through the boot (would love to see how you strap them into their rear facing car seat once they're in and you've climbed in the front seat!), waiting around until someone else returns to their car

Never in my life have I ever thought about this, or seen anyone else do these things. Spaces are tight, I frequently 'touch' the car parked next to mine with my car door, It's completely unavoidable at times and so long as it's not banging its fine.

I would be furious if someone pulled me up about it, especially if it was one of those massive SUV things that are nearly as wide as the whole space to start, I don't see their drivers and passengers climbing out the boots!

OP ignore, perhaps someone has recently damaged their car so they're sensitive about it or something.

Mumsnet is bonkers about anything to do with cars/driving. FWIW I have two very young children who need getting in and out, I have done what you did loads OP and never damaged anyone's car. I also have a brand new, leased, car myself and couldn't give a toss if someone does what you did. Life is too short for all the anger on here about this kind of thing. Also, big lolz at the thought of cutting up a pool noodle for this specific scenario!

How on earth do you hold a car door and get a child in its seat? How are people lifting a toddler with one hand? How is this possible??

Move the car forward/back to be able to open your car door fully?

mrspan where am I suppose to put a toddler safely while I'm doing this in a busy car park? Not going to happen.

I was replying to another comment . I completely agree with you how on earth do you hold a car door as well as attempting to put a baby in the car?! Some of the replies on here are unreasonable. The OP was just doing what she could at the time with the space she had !! Give her a break

Drop your kid in through the sunroof next time..

torri I don't have a sunroof, but if I did.... 😂

OP she was being a pr*t. I've had the exact same thing and spent ages analysing the rights and wrongs of it before deciding that sometimes it just can't be helped and as long as you are careful then there's not much more you can do. Don't waste headspace on her, you did nothing wrong x

"I couldn't go through the other side because I would have touched that car too so pointless."

How small are these car parking spaces?!

She was probably just checking that you hadn't damaged her car with the contact. Don't take it personally, she just wanted to make sure her property wasn't damaged that's all! Not all people would have been as gentle as you were...some people are a little bit more heavy with their doors - causing dint / scratches and then just driving off leaving the owner with a nice bill and a constant reminder about how shitty other drivers can be - hey she's probably even experienced this herself, and therefore has no goodwill left when it comes to people touching her car!

There are rubber door strips you can buy which prevent your door damaging a neighbouring car if opened against it. I'm really surprised they aren't more popular. It would save a lot of car park aggro.

popcorn pretty small. It's a nightmare getting in and out the car park especially when someone is turning into it and someone wants to go out. Not enough spaces for all the parents and the staff park in the car park too so take up half the spaces. Turns out this woman is the owner and parked in the parent spots and parked very close to the lines so her car wouldn't be close to the Bush which then had a knock on effect for the other cars.