What is with childless people parking in family spots!!!

[Asher09]

I have a toddler and a baby - so thats 2 car seats and a double pram. I genuinly need a fair bit of space when parking and recently I've seen so many people without children parking in the family spots - its so frustrating!

Surely family spots are there for a reason - they're closer to entrances and allow more space to get in and out. Its so helpful to a parent!
When inconsiderate people park there without thinking it leaves me driving around with a screaming toddler and a crying baby trying to find a decent spot where I have some room - some car parks have such narrow spots its impossible to get my kids in and out without hitting a car.

I've caught some people in the act, and have confonted them 'Hey I think you've left your kids in the car' but no one thinks they sre doing anything wrong or should move.

I think family spots should have the same rules as disabled spots. Just don't know how that would be implimented.

I certainly don't resent subsidised childcare - it's a very sensible idea. I don't resent p&c spaces being available either. I just don't think you need to legislate to protect them, and that it doesn't matter if other people who might also need wider spaces for whatever reason use them.

I have no animosity towards the parents of young children at all, or indeed towards young children themselves. Quite the contrary, actually - I love small children and find them endlessly entertaining, enjoy seeing them out and about in town etc.

What does annoy me though is when I see the parents of young children behaving in very entitled and precious ways, as if they think that the rest of the world should revolve around their needs. And especially when they suggest that parenthood is somehow akin to having a disability. It isn't, and it is offensive when they show such a lack of awareness.

I agree that having a child isn't the same as having a disability. Obviously. But no parent (in their right mind) would resent someone who needs the space more than them using it.
But there are a very large number of people, particularly on Mumsnet who seem to think the very act of having children is "entitled", and since the spaces aren't "legally enforced" it's fun to use them just to piss parents off.
Parents who actually do often need them, even if you deny it. See my post up thread about a time when my twins were small that I literally couldn't get them into the car AT ALL because people had parked too close on both sides.
And the argument that you managed without using them when you had small kids (not you particularly - but anyone who says it) is so ridiculous. People also managed without washing machine, internet access, mobility scooters, whatever. Doesn't mean that now they've been brought in we should resent other people having them.
And no I dont use them because my kids are 10 so I don't need them. So I'm not arguing for my own.benefit.

I appreciate that, but genuine question because I'm genuinly curious in your perspective - if we do grant parents the same parking rights as disabled people (or something to that effect) and everyone gets the impression that the two are equally as important (which of course they're not), what do you think is going to happen?? Like whats the worst case scenario in your head as a result??

Is it that you think something is really going to shift in peoples behaviours? Is it a mindset thing where parents will view disabled people as less than or equals? Just curious.

(Personaly as a parent, if I get some sort of badge or permit from my council or local shopping centre, even if the spaces are at the back - I wouldn't think those with disabilities are and less than me. I wouldn't think I'm more important than them. I wouldnt all of a sudden start parking in disabled spots. It would just mean that people who genuinly dont need that much space would think twice before taking up those spaces, and I can go to car parks without getting anxious - I like to think many other parents would think/do the same but I could be wrong).

The problem is it isn’t beneficial to the shopping places or the car park owners/managers, which is why it won’t happen.

If someone enjoys going to the supermarket, great, but I don't see the point in complaining about it when you don't need to go

Let's go back to basic reading comprehension, which is where the OP complains about younger people using the space but it would be fine if it were older people, and my argument is that it's not okay regardless of if it's teenagers or the elderly, because it's a parent/child space and that's the criteria for parking there.

Who complained?

is that you Range-Rover woman?

there may very well be spaces when she arrives but whose to say people won’t come needing one?

you could say the same about the disabled spaces and even the accessible toilet - just because it’s empty when you get there doesn’t mean it won’t be needed soon.

Just use the other spaces and walk the extra 50 yards FFS

I used to live near a Sainsbury's with tiny spaces when dd was little. I just avoided the busiest times and parked further away from the shop/ on the end of a row somewhere. It's only a big deal if you make it one.

I had a similar setup years ago. If I had to go shopping with the brood in tow, I just parked further away where there were always spaces. It was quicker than looking for an empty P&C spot. Home deliveries and click & collect make everything much easier these days.

Having children is a choice, being disabled is not. This alone means you are being unreasonable. Where I live, able bodied people with kids use the disabled spaces because they can't be arsed to park three spaces down when they drop their little darlings off at pre-school. The same happens at the doctors surgery despite clear signage.

"iI used to live near a Sainsbury's with tiny spaces when dd was little. I just avoided the busiest times and parked further away from the shop/ on the end of a row somewhere. It's only a big deal if you make it one."

Jesus. Why should families not be able to go to the shops whenever they like?

"I had a similar setup years ago. If I had to go shopping with the brood in tow, I just parked further away where there were always spaces. It was quicker than looking for an empty P&C spot. Home deliveries and click & collect make everything much easier these days."

And again who cares??

There are spaces there to enable them to go to the shops that they can't use because selfish lazy arseholes are using them for no reason.

No. I wouldn't mind if a disabled person uses one if they need it obviously. But plenty of people use them just to be a twat. In fact there is at least one poster on this thread who said (although she is disabled so fine if she needs it) that she fancied using them just to piss off the "entitled parents" who think the world revolve around them. Like really? Why? Why go out of your way to make someone's day harder?

And can we stop with all the bollocks"having a child is a choice" shite please? It really isn't "a choice" the choiceis your big stupid range rover that you are so precious about you feel ENTITLED to steal the space from the people it's made for. Having children or at least the right to a family is a basic human right enshrined in international law. Not a fucking choice

Of course it’s a choice. You can do it or not as you choose.

If something isn’t a choice, then you HAVE to do it, but you can decide not to have children.

The right to choose to have children or not is enshrined in law (ish)… it literally uses the word ‘decide’, I.e. choose.

And if everyone chose not to have children due to the general hostility towards families and children? Then what?

There is no hostility towards families and children.

There is only hostility towards parents who make massive mountains out of molehills. Most parents won't want to align themselves with people who make such a ridiculous song and dance out of simple day to day tasks.

If you want to park in p&c space, most supermarkets have them. If they're all in use, wait until one becomes available.

If you don't want to wait, park a bit further away and walk. Or just get your kids out of the car in a normal space.

Or shop online if you find it really challenging.

This is such a non-issue. I can't believe that people are arguing that we should legislate to protect these spaces.

That’s a completely different question. The fact you say “everyone chose not to have children” shows you know full well that it’s a choice…

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves if you feel it's such a non issue why are you wasting your time arguing about it?
Clearly a lot of people are offended that people with young children are getting something that they are not (slightly bigger parking spaces woohoo) so to show how "unfair!!!" that is they choose to park in them just to be a twat. And then try and gaslight the people who are meant to use them into thinking they're the ones in the wrong for wanting to use a facility that has been put there for them it's quite pathetic really.
And no, I don't use them. I don't need to. My kids are old enough to get in and out the car and I'm not a dick

Talk about entitled. Some of us didn't even have prams. We used our arms to carry babies or made toddlers use their legs to walk. This entitlement of expecting to go from doorstep to doorstep without so much as walking a few yards in between is ridiculous.

I am sure prams have been about since the mid 18th century

"NotQuiteNorma · Today 19:06

Talk about entitled. Some of us didn't even have prams. We used our arms to carry babies or made toddlers use their legs to walk. This entitlement of expecting to go from doorstep to doorstep without so much as walking a few yards in between is ridiculous."

Hahaha. This sounds a bit like "we walked 17 miles to school and back in the snow, with no shoes, uphill both ways just to be beaten with a stick. You young kids don't know you're born." 😂

If I’ve got a tonne of shopping, I’ll park in the closest available space unless it’s a disabled space. Sorry!

Because there are always going to be arseholes in the world and getting worked up about it isn't going to make your life any easier. What does make your life easier is you making decisions for yourself. Raising children is stressful enough without getting into arguments in car parks which change nothing.

If a childfree person takes the last spot, or one of the last 2 or 3 spots and the carpark is busy, of course that’s inconsiderate.

But if the carpark is 90% empty and somebody in a hurry parks in one of 8 empty parent and child spaces close to the door, it’s hardly crime of the century.
Common sense.

Nobody is gaslighting anyone ffs!

I'm not offended by p&c parking spaces.i couldn't care less about them. I never park in them and frankly, I didn't even care when I had young dc.

As to why I'm posting...it has nothing to do with p&c parking spaces and everything to do with finding overly entitled parents intensely annoying. More specifically, I care about the rights of disabled people and am frustrated by people minimising the challenges that are often faced by people with disabilities by making spurious and ill-judged comparisons between people with disabilities and parents of young children.

Brave