Snapped in the parent and child parking

[seize]

Juggling my 3 month old from their baby carrier trying to get them into the car seat, a car pulls in and asks me to close my door, while I’m halfway into getting my baby in their seat.

Out hops a child in school uniform about 10 years old, not help needing any help to get out, my face must have had an expression of surprise. Someone in need of this space being asked to stop what they’re doing to allow someone not in need of the space to use it. The adult said “ignorant” loudly at me. So I snapped back, “these spaces are for people with babies and children that need help getting in and out, they aren’t for older children” she snaps something back at me about not knowing how old their child is (the one that is in school uniform, fairly tall, that needed no help getting out and is now safely stood in a car park without the adult needing to have them in their line of sight) and the bratty child screams “yeah!”.

I’ve had it with these spaces, they aren’t a convenience for people that happen to have a person under the age of 16 with them. They’re for people who genuinely need the help getting them in and out and need the extra space.

But not the doors of two cars next to each other at the same time.

Frankly, if you're going to use a parent and child space when your child is clearly too old to need it, you'd do well to keep your mouth shut instead of telling a mother with an actual baby to get out of your way. The OP was right to give the CF a piece of her mind.

Also the kid sounds like a horrible little brat. The apple clearly didn't fall far from the tree.

Yes this is my thought, old enough to answer back to a stranger with a baby. Old enough to get in and out of a car in a normal parking bay.

Is this your first baby op. You're going to need to calm down a bit if you survive out there.

Or get a delivery

How patronising and not true

Parent and child spaces, unlike disabled spaces, aren’t statutorily enforced. Anyone can legally park in them. 🤷‍♀️

No, in many places it says 7 and under. 12 is tacking the mickey.

She sounds like a nob.

I just think she shouldn't have told you to close you're door in the first place, you aren't playing with it for fun, obviously its open because you need it to be, you were there first, she should have had some patience and waited the minute it would have taken you to strap your child in.

I pulled into a baby and toddler space today to see a middle aged couple returning to their car with no children and no children in the car.

At least there was a child of some description with them. Absolutely boils me up seeing people pull into parent and child spaces then get out by themselves and stroll into the shop 😡

Minimum order cost, ordering several days in advance of needing it, getting whatever fresh produce the picker selects, being at the mercy of the shops stock levels, staying in for the delivery window, paying a delivery cost… no I need a society where people actually allow something to exist for those that need it and don’t take advantage of it out of laziness.

Ignore some of the idiotic replies on here OP. She was unreasonable and rude. I would have made her wait until you had finished putting your baby in the car. She was the ignorant one.

I don’t understand why you are getting such a hard time. Sorry OP.

The other drivers time is not more precious than yours. It’s a sign of many posts I’ve seen recently about the change in people’s attitudes (and also awful selfish driving). A normal human would have seen you were tied up and either waited or found another space!

No it’s my second. Just had one with me today and it would stress me out even more if juggling the two (baby and toddler).

If you know, you know 😉😂

This is not a disability situation. It’s a child space situation. So visually seeing that a child is robust enough to get out if a car and stand to the side independently is all that is required to judge.

The people i know that have kids dont bother with child parent parking spaces.

"You're ableist!!!" incoming!!!

I recently had a guy in a white van pull into the last parent and child space ahead of me when I had a 1 and 3 year old in the car with me. Luckily the car next to them pulled out so I parked in that one. There were loads of trolleys laying around so I had great fun building a little trolley fort around the van before getting the kids out!

Seems to me like there are a awful lot of people on this thread who possibly use the parent & child bays unnecessarily!

This woman was unpleasant, if she was going to inconvenience someone already in the process of using the bay for its main purpose she should have parked somewhere else, waited, told the child to get out the other side or asked much more nicely, or even offered to help, heaven for forbid!

Yes, but if it is private land, the owner can tell them to get the fuck off their land without giving a reason. Its what I'd do, but I'd probably alienate 95% of my customer base for one reason or another.

All spaces should be made wider. Frankly.

How annoying!
My child is 6 and has SEN. She might still need to use the car park space even as she gets older. Not all disabilities are visible.

THIS ⬆️

The very fact the adult didn’t need to keep the child in sight while starting and continuing an argument with me, tells me they were not in need of this space.