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.

People are just rude.
I'm newly disabled and it's a whole other ball game.
Tbh I'm rude back now so they get the full force of my uneffected brain. 😁

good luck.

Obviously the brat has a habit of flinging open the car door and banging into other cars thus denting (gran)mummy's lovely automobile. No care if it dents someone else's of course. I'd probably suggested loudly that since they were going into a shop they should look to see if they could buy some manners.

AND - I know people will shout but I do occasionally use the P&C parking spots despite being neither P or C. But that's because some parking lots have too narrow of parking for me to open my door sufficiently to get in and out due to arthritic knees. I'd park in the disabled spots but I don't qualify for a blue badge as apparently our local council thinks that arthritis is a temporary condition.

There's nothing unsafe for your child for you to pop them in the car seat then close the door for about 15 seconds to allow someone else out then finish doing the straps up.

Such a drama over nothing. It would have been nicer of her to wait, it would have been nicer of you to be a little flexible. None of it is as enraging as you have allowed it to become.

The OP’s rather rude, aggressive and frankly melodramatic responses to some of the (quite reasonable) responses on here make me think that perhaps the other woman in the car park WNBU.

As my teens would say: calm down, it’s really not that deep.

Having said that, never in the history of the entire world did anyone calm down by being told to calm down, to be fair.

In your first post you were asked to close your door, but now they’re barking at you and it amounts to abuse? Get over yourself.

That part is irrelevant anyway because you could have just said ‘yes, hang on’, finished what you were doing without hanging around and moved on. You chose to start giving out dirty looks.

What makes you think it’s up to you to dictate who should and should not be using these spaces? The world does not owe you a favour just because you have a baby and a toddler, and if the owners of the private car park you were using did not specify that the space was only to be used by adults with younger children, then you don’t get to either.

It’s just a parking space, and I can promise you they are not an essential need because many of us had our babies and toddlers when most places didn’t have courtesy parent spaces and we managed just fine.

Yes reasonable people yell “ignorant” at strangers

Go back and read the original post then come back.

I’m with you OP. I passed my driving test when my older child was 5 and didn’t even think of using the ‘baby’ spaces as I think of them as being for baby and toddlers.

Years later, I have a baby again and can rarely get a space at my local supermarket. So often, the parents have much older children with no apparent needs - I’m a local teacher so am aware of the needs of many eleven year olds I have seen climbing out of the cars.

I think it’s another example of entitlement - ‘I have a child so I can park here if I want.’ Regardless of whether they need the extra room or if it stops someone who does need the space having it.

Yes.
There is a lot of this attitude around.

It doesn’t make the world a nicer place.

I think the days are gone where more able bodied people take a seat at the back of the bus and stand up on the tube when they’re only going one stop to allow someone who needs it more to take a seat. It’s very sad when you behave like this, hoping it will be returned in your time of need and are faced with society who just care about themselves at the expense of others.

The responses on here are depressing. It would have cost that woman nothing to wait a moment, strapping babies in takes time.
So many people just being nasty for the sake of it.

I'm so sorry to hear this. It really does sound like he should qualify. We got declined on the first attempt because I ticked the wrong box on the online form but a lovely man from our council phoned me up and explained my mistake. I might have given up otherwise! Could it be something like that?

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Child locks are on all rear car doors, they are there to stop them being opened from the inside. May put them on so then your son WONT bash his door open onto other car doors and dash into the shop, then you won't need to take up a parent and child space.

They are bigger spaces so people can have the doors wide open to get babies young children out.

You should have blanked her until you were done.
Rude people don't deserve a response.
If she pushed for one from you maybe, "¿Qué?" 🤣

I used those spaces right up untill my youngest child was 12. That's the rules and I don't really care what random people think the rules SHOULD be or if they self-enforce other rules. I'll go by the rules

I've also found that they usually have loads of space next to them so your open door shouldn't have been an issue - you must have been really going some to block the next door from opening in a parent and child space.

Are you this mindless in all aspects of your life?

That’s a horrible self centered attitude you have there. And as someone who used these spaces for 12 years, taking them away from those that actually needed them, you should be aware that the space between allows one car door to open, not two.

Some people really have no shame, eh.

I did.

a car pulls in and asks me to close my door,

would have just gone about my business if I wasn’t barked at to stop safely strapping my child in for their convenience

You were quite clear that you weren’t called ignorant until after your ‘expression of surprise’ at a child just getting out of a car.

lol yeah that wouldn’t stop him

I have recounted the same story multiple times, I am not sure which part you aren’t understanding.

I think p&c should be used for anyone with children in car seats, because they do need the door wider to climb into a car seat, and to safely get out of the car.

However OP i am with you, the person should have taught the child some curtesy and patience and told them to wait until they could see you were dome or.told them to get out the other side of the car if it was a rush.

All they have taught the child is that they are more important than anyone else and they should not show anyone any kind of grace and we wonder why we have a world full of self centred rude and abusive people