In thinking mother and baby places should not be used by those without children not pregnant etc and then laugh about it treating it as a joke!!

[2luvlyboys]

PILs park in the mother and baby space all the time as a matter of course using the fact they have a child seat in there as an excuse!! Never take my dcs shopping never why would they? That is very very unreasonable imo and makes me ! They have been challanged about it and they say they make a joke about they left the kids at home!
Observant ones will notice I put this on another thread but then thought it deserves an aibu in its own right iyswim!

Good, some people agree with me.

My kids are not toddlers any more, but I do remember how a parent and child space made life so much easier when they were little. I think they should be parent and baby/toddler spaces - once the kids get to 3 or 4, then they should not be able to use them. It's when they need strapping inot car seats that life gets difficult.
Expat, I'm afraid I don't agree with you. I have a disabled child and always use disabled spaces, but why should P&T spaces be changed to disabled bays? I used to think they were a godsend, and would have been very annoyed at an older couple without a child parking in one! (In fact, I once tackled somebody about parking in one without a child - how sad am I)

expat is wonderful, she should be mayor

If the baby is in a buggy, what's the safety problem? and can't you put all the paraphenalia on the buggy?

Well I think there is a need for both.
P&C bays for people with children.
Disabled bays for those who are disabled.

Quite simple really.

is crossing a car park any more dangerous than crossing a main road?

I can't put my son in the buggy if I am going to the supermarket - it's near-on impossible to push a buggy and a trolley. It means going to the front of the store with child in tow to get a trolley.
And I can't believe I have been sucked into a P&C car parking space thread. I am off...

Message withdrawn

If child not in a buggy (I never did for shopping) carry them or walk them across carpark holding their hand or on reins. Good opportunity to teach traffic awareness.

Yes I know onestop, I've had toddlers and baby a few times. Parking in m+t doesn't guarantee that they won't run off. You have to get them so they know they mustn't. Use reins, hold hands, tell them the dangers.

'Why Expat? Don't you find it difficult struggling with baby, buggy, nappy bag, handbag, umbrella plus shopping??'

No. I found walking with a huge brace on one leg, a small one on the other and crutches difficult and painful.

I find shopping with children a piece of piss by comparison.

You park WAY in the back. Not a lot of cars back there and then you organise yourself and you children and you walk to the shop.

P&C spaces don't exist in most countries.

Yet folks somehow manage just fine.

er Juule, what a stupid comment. The baby may be in a buggy but there is still the issue of cars reversing into the buggy (which I always panic about)- designated spaces flag up to people that it's a parent and child area and give you more space of the buggy. And no, I can't get a nappy bag, hangbag, umbrella and several bags of shopping into a Bugaboo - let me know if you can.

If there is truly a need for these spaces, why do they only exist in the UK?

Are people genetically unable to manage themselves and their childrens in car parks?

Applauds, sleepycat.

Gangle - what are you carting all that lot around for anyway? How long are you out when you go shopping?
Are you seriously saying that you can't negotiate your way across a carpark?

i don't know. maybe larger people do find it difficult to do up car seats in normal spaces with cars parked either side? our shopping centre never has empty spaces so you wouldn't be able to park in an emptier part as it just doesn't exist.

then you go somewhere else. then you shop online.

then you go whilst your partner or someone else looks after your kids.

lots of options besides using your car and expecting to be able to park it right up close to a shop when you're able-bodied.

agree with expat, definitely.

Some of you may want to downsize the amount of clutter you seem to be staggering across the car park with. I wouldn't try and wrestle with an umbrella for example. Also a nappy bag?? How long are you in there for? Surely you could slip a nappy and a small pack of wipes into handbag/shopping bag if you really want/need to change the baby whilst in the shop.

I am in and out of the supermarket within 30-60 minutes max if I have the 2 children with me. imo it is unfair to drag them on a browsing type of trip. Fair enough to get essentials though.

I often carry the baby from the car and plonk straight into the trolley...couldn't be bothered negotiating buggy and trolley/basket.

Expat, maybe they don't live in cities as packed out as London. I can never find a nice quiet spot at the back of the car park where I can take time to unload my stuff and get my baby out and am mighty glad if a supermarket has P&C spaces which enable me to get in and out pretty quickly before my son starts screaming. It's also not so much an issue of the walk but the space around the car that lets out get the baby out without getting crushed.

Message withdrawn

Some people do not have a PC - hence cannot shop online.

Some people don't have a dp or someone else to look after their dc.

that's funny, lots of people in London don't have a car and have one or more children.

in fact, lots of them are on this board.

how do they manage it?

and Londoners who are carless or carfree care to share their tips?

then how did all those people manage before there were these P&C spaces, hf?

how did they live?

it must have been somehow.

they're not a necessity.

and if you want to go for walks in a park rather than a carpark, but all means do.

no one puts a gun to an able-bodied person's head and forces them to use their car to get to a shop - in London, of all places - and then moan about hte amount of kit they've chosen to bring with them and how it's such a 'struggle' to manage it all if they're not parked right outside the door.

Was a Londoner - used Ocado