Parenting parking bays Rant?!

[LittleDidIKnowThen]

I have recently had a baby and I’ve suddenly noticed the amount of people using parenting bays who think it’s okay as they have a car seat in their car with no baby well today I struggled to get a parenting bay as there isn’t many so I had to park across the other side of the car park so the chances of somebody parking next to me are slim as I have to get a car seat out.

I noticed a lady use a parenting bay with her son who was around 10-12. Am I wrong to be annoyed?

Why couldn’t he get out of the car in a normal bay?

Tell me your thoughts maybe I’m wrong

I think people are being unfairly harsh to the OP. It's not just about getting the baby out of the car but part of the issue is where the pram is. I personally feel much safer with the pram next to my car in the wide space, than behind my car potentially in the way of traffic. My local Morrison's is especially dangerous for this. It's a very tight carpark and the P&C spaces are so much safer.

Additionally, it's perhaps worth noting that whilst many places do still call them 'parent and child' spaces, some supermarkets have now renamed them 'parent and baby' spaces, with a pram underneath as a logo to reinforce the point. I know it's not a legal entitlement, but they do serve a purpose.

That said, I do agree with the poster who commented that there isn't a need to have them right by the entrance. At my local Tescos there's a walkway between some of the spaces which is much safer than pushing a pram through a chaotic carpark. I would much prefer to park by the walkway than a P&C space so I dont have to worry about cars reversing into the pram etc. It would actually be better if the P&C (or P&B!) spaces were further away from the entrance but a) wider than normal spaces, and b) by some sort of walkway the store. This would prevent those who don't really need the space from using it out of laziness, but give additional safety to parents who genuinely want this for their child at the expense of an extra half a minute of walking 👌

Some people on this thread are nasty. So what if it’s been ‘done to death’? Don’t comment! Also I get annoyed about this and no they’re not a legal right but it is courtesy that if you’ve got a child old enough to get themselves in and out of a car safely or don’t need to use the bays then don’t. You’re making a parent of a young child’s life more inconvenient than yours would be! No baby/young child? Park somewhere else. Selfish.

@Flamingo84 Also I know my disability, you don’t. 70% of the time I’m fine to walk, why should I get preferential treatment? I’d feel like an imposter using a disabled bay, I’ve seen enough threads about people with invisible illnesses being confronted outside disabled toilets!

If you are entitled to a blue badge for the 30% of the time when you are unable to walk, then it's not 'preferential' treatment for you to use one. It's what you are entitled to as a person with a disability that severely limits your mobility.

No one in their right mind would object to you using one.

If you would feel 'like an imposter' when your disability is not causing you such difficulties, then just don't use the disabled bays at those times. It's crazy to 'stay at home' rather than use a blue badge that you have every right to use.

I use one with those nasty evil "older" children (you wait OP - yours will be a loud galumphing one soon enough) - the wider space means I can get the doors fully open and help a child with motor skill and coordination difficulties to get safely seatbelted in. Had the evil looks from mums with babies in those "baby in a bucket" type car seats a couple of times getting mine out of the car at the local supermarket because of it.

Omg all these people giving the OP a hard time the bloody spaces are designed for mums and babies.

sexist arse.

@wijjjy

Oh piss off will you mums dad's fucking grandparents fucking aliens with Babies! I mentioned mums because this forum is mainly mums clues in the fucking name. Stupid fucking comment that I'm sexist.

I don't object to anyone with a child using one, you don't know if they have SEN etc which makes crossing a carpark challenging or risky, I do however object to low rent sales men using them as lunch spots. Last week I had to do the same as you, park right across the carpark (someone then parked right up close rather than use one of the other dozen empty spaces, as I walked past the parent and child bays three were taken by men in crumpled shirts either on a laptop or phone, eating a sandwich.

They are parent and child bays, not baby and child. I have used them with my DC before baby DS was born. Children tend to open car doors pretty carelessly, the extra room can be the difference between them scraping someone else’s car or not.

I meant not parent and baby obvs.

I still use a parent and child bay when I’m out with my 8 year old if I can. He has autism and often swings the doors out without a care in the world so I have to ensure that he doesn’t hit another car with my door.

If there’s no parent and child space find an end space so you will have space to get a car seat in and out. Problem solved.

I did recently get annoyed when I seen someone get out of one with a child of shoot 15 though. I think it’s up to age 12. They aren’t just for babies!

Well, actually some ARE now labelled 'parent and baby', as I explained in a previous post, and are therefore intended specifically for parents with babies rather than older children. I agree most are still parent and child though.

Anyone seen that scene in The Letdown about Parent and Child spaces? I bet the woman having a go was a Mumsnet fanatic 😂

Yep Morrisons have them clearly labelled as Baby and Toddler now.

I use them all the time with my 10 year old. Doesn’t matter how old your child is or children are. They are PARENT and CHILD bays. and the last time I looked a 12 year old is still a child. Sorry but what makes your child anymore important than the child. They are children. They got there first so look for another space. We all pay road tax and insurance. And no more important than another.

Again... see the post above yours and the post above that. Some supermarkets are beginning to label them specially Parent and BABY spaces now. 🙄

And this is the prime example about people who have babies and believe they are more entitled than any one else in the world. ‘I have had a baby and I need and deserve that space’ woman who have had babies before them spaces were invented survived perfectly fine but now the entire world has made mothers believe they are deserving and expect the red carpet to be rolled out for them. Them spaces were made to make it easier for mothers not because you deserve it. If I can’t get a child space I don’t bitch about it. You find another space to deal with it.

I think my morrisons has parent and child not babies and toddlers.

@june2007 maybe so.

@kacieann123 I don't think this thread is about entitlement. I think it's about frustration. I was frustrated the other day when a woman with no child was parked in a parent and child space, meaning I had to walk across a very busy carpark with my baby in his pram and navigate all the cars reversing and trying to get past each other, rather than walking more safely on the walkway by the P&C spaces. I saw her getting into her car on my way back to mine, and said something. She had the decency to apologise.

A few weeks ago I had a scenario when a car reversed quickly right into me without looking- I was crossing the carpark between cars (there was a queue to get out - my local supermarket is mental). Luckily I kind of threw myself forward out of the way, and ended up just a bit bruised and shaken. Had a go at the man about looking before he reverses in future (he was incredibly apologetic and so worried). But if I'd have had my little boy with me I don't know what would have happened. That incident showed me the importance of P&C spaces. Now, I'm not saying that this applies only to babies. I imagine it could have been similarly if i had, say, a 5 year old with me - I've read that they often don't get spotted by cars reversing as they're so little. But I do think a bit of common sense is needed by people. Those people who park in a P&C space with a typical 12 or 13 year old child (I'm a secondary school teacher by the way so see children of this age every day and the vast majority are more than capable of getting safely across a carpark with their parent), do annoy me when I'm there in front of my car trying to put my pram together in the middle of a stream of traffic.

That said, if it was a reasonably quiet, unchaotic carpark, and I felt safe walking with my baby in the carpark 'road' between my car and supermarket, I wouldn't have an issue. Again, common sense should prevail.

I didn’t set out to start a war about parking bays. Surreygirl1987 summed it up perfectly. I don’t see myself as being more entitled than any other parent. However I feel a child of 10-12 should be able to remove themselves from a car without extra space for the door to open & her thenselves safely to the store. Car parks are crazy people just back out without looking and it’s dangerous with a pushchair. To all the people who said park further away, by the time I got back to my car people have parked either side of me so I just have to wait for them to return to put my car seat back in, I can’t move my car & leave my baby on the road in her pushchair. Thanks surreygirl1987

If your 8 year old can't open a door carefully then apply the child lock - this does not require you to use a wide space!

Cheers @LittleDidIKnowThen

Why couldn’t he get out of the car in a normal bay?

Why couldn't you? Sure,it's nice to have some extra room but not essential surely?