'Parents with prams' parking etiquette...

[Jewel]

We just have the coles baby parks and it says "Baby parking" or something on the sign.
There are only 2 parks, so they're often taken up. We use them for our shopping and we don't take the pram shopping ever, we carry DS2 to the trolley while holding hands with DS1. I only use that parking basically until they grow up and can hold hands and don't need to sit in the trolley seat, baby capsule or other seat.
I don't park there if I've got not kidlets with me though, and I do check out the cars in those parks to see if they have a baby/kid seats in their car. LOL. I'm so nosey.

I think you have the right to park there whether or not you use the pram too.

xx

[sangie]

LOL Von that wouldn't the shopping centre in your suburb would it? Makes no sense to me either?!

I only use the 'parents with pram' spot unless I am using the pram, or else I'd rather park closer to a trolley bay. But I think all parents with young kids should be able to use them whether they have a pram or not.

I often see people without children using those spots which really annoys me!

[Astrid]

I have often wondered the same thing about those spots, as I use a trolley not a pram at the supermarket. Unless it is quiet, I prefer to park where it is easy to get the car in and out of and is near a trolley bay. I find the parent parking to be in the high traffic area, so hard to get in and out of. As said, I think it should be called parent parking.

[MantaRay]

I also get annoyed by people without kids using them. But the "car seat" test doesn't always work. Sometimes parents have a baby in a capsule and have the capsule with them. They can also have car seats in the car but be shopping without the kids.

[Bathsheba]

I think the Parents With Prams should be labelled the same way as on trains: Reserved for people with special needs.... and have a sign with a pregnant woman, a wheelchair, a pram and a person on crutches. If a heavily pregnant women has her toddler with her and decides she can't manage taking a pram AND pushing a trolley at the same time then she should be able to use that Parenting spot regardless of whether she uses a pram. I think the terms should be broadened because a person on crutches probably should have precedence over a person with, say, a fit and healthy 4yo who can walk but is popped in a pram.

People seem to lack compassion and common sense these days It would be good if those "guilt trippers" made vocal sarcastic comments at the local selfish individual who just parks there because he's lazy...but to direct that comment at somebody with a baby who can't walk who has a mum with a healing c/s scar is rough. *thumbs down*

[Phteven]

I wouldn't actually be upset about it if someone without a pram but with a young child was using one. I hate it when people use them who have no capsule or car seat in their car. Clearly they don't have a young child in the car.

Not everyone with a young child has a car seat in the car. Some people stop using them when their children are toddlers. Some people have them in the main family car but not in the secondary car. If I don't see a baby seat I don't assume that the car has no children, just that the owner's attitude towards car safety isn't as pedantic as mine.

[Ozziehoffy]

I have used it when using a trolley. Parly because they are USUALLY a little wider therefore making it easier to gets bub/kiddie in and out of the car without hitting others around or them hitting you more to the point. These days though I can hardly be bothered as I get REALLY peeved if ppl are using them and don't have kids!! Also, I don't want people denting my car (only 6 months old) so I park away on my lonesome..lol. I should also think that the extra excercise is good for me?? lol.

[Smoke Jaguar]

I'm a seconder for your motion, Bath! Somewhere along the way, we stopped teaching kids empathy...( I have a few theories, they're not entirely mine - different place, different time, though!), so we have people who feel right to offload their first thoughts to complete strangers and who feel far more important in their errands than other people

[Bathsheba]

Ozzie: Ha!!! Yes! People who park in Parenting spots (and don't have a child or special need) be warned! Your car will more likely be dented! I know my kids are a bit rough when they open their door... often Dh and I will have to leap and hold the door so that it doesn't bash into the car beside us. But... um... I wouldn't do that if I knew for certain the car belonged to a selfish hoon with no kids or reason to park there. *evil grin* Is that awful of me???

[Mumma2three]

Im sure there was a Seinfeld ep about disabled parking. Very funny. The last post (dents in car) reminded me of it~!!!

[Ozziehoffy]

often Dh and I will have to leap and hold the door so that it doesn't bash into the car beside us. But... um... I wouldn't do that if I knew for certain the car belonged to a selfish hoon with no kids or reason to park there. *evil grin* Is that awful of me???

Ummmmmaaaahh...pmsl. I hear ya honey!!

[*Efjay*]

If a heavily pregnant women has her toddler with her and decides she can't manage taking a pram AND pushing a trolley at the same time then she should be able to use that Parenting spot regardless of whether she uses a pram.

Yes, I would just LOVE someone to make a comment at me on my shopping trips. I am that Heavily pregnant women who can't notmanage the stroller & trolley at once. I have a hard enough time managing my THREE kids all at once plus a trolley. So yeah, like hell I am going to get the pram out too! Usually I don't even have it with me on food shopping trips as I have no room for my Kids, shopping AND pram in the car by the end of the trip.

[Je$$_84]

I have to admit i ALWAYS use these spots if i have the 2 kids. DS is very hard to controll and doesnt matter how many times we have chatted about cars and dangers he still forgets and tries to run off into the shops. I park close so its not too far for us to walk safely. I have seem people without kids park there and i have said something but wouldnt begrusge a "parent with child" a space if he/she didnt have a pram or trolley.

I know there are "parent with prams" and parent parking at our local shops. The one for prams are bigger but like mentioned i think its worse when your kids arent restrained in the pram. Personally i think all parking spaces could be a tad bigger.

If you have a bubs in arms the person should have minded there own business... it wasnt like you were alone... and its not like you were in a disabled (that erks me) you were a parent and going to use a trolley so why not...

[loulabelle]

Hmm, I'm with you, I always just assumed it was OK as long as you had a baby.I will always use the spot id it's available at our supermarket.

What really annoying though is when people without children use it, that's happened quite a few times at our supermarket and means I have to park ages away.

[SugarDust]

IF I can get one and I have the kids with me I use it but I will try and utilise them more once Lach is born! All the parents parking at the shops i go to are about the same size as the disabled parking so you can open the doors wide enough to get the kids in and out without worrying about doing your back in or damaging the car next to you!

I think it should be call parents parking just like it is called a parentss room (the toilet area that isn't just for the paren't with prams)

[sassy123]

i always see these parks as if u have car seats in and small childrenu can use them. not just using a pram. i mena if this is the case ill just take the pram with me everytime i shop without DD lol

[Enchanted]

I have never given the "Parents With Prams" any really thought as to whether or not you "should" be using a pram if you park there. I too have always taken it as a given that it means parents with young kids. There are no Terms and Conditions posted anywhere near the parks... so I'm sticking with my own rules

[Beckibee]

I'm not ashamed to say from when Maddy was 4 days old through to when we left Brisbane (she is now 2), where there was to park in a parents' parking spot (some do say parents with prams, others family parking etc) I took it. I've never had anyone say anything to me where I've gone to do the grocery shop and climbed out of the car with Miss M in my arms and her nappy bag slung over my shoulder but no pram. I can now collapse our stroller down and actually fit it in the trolley with the groceries, but there was no way I could have done that with our old pram when Maddy was little.

I remember Maddy being about a week old and going to the local Westfields in Brisbane to lodge our baby bonus forms, medicare forms etc. It was a sweltering hot day (over 35 degrees) and very early January. We'd gotten in early and were leaving just before lunch, having secured a parents' park. Due to the heat people were 'ferreting' for parks...just trailing after people and speeding around trying to be the first to the park someone was vacating. It took us AGES to get Maddy into the car (we were new parents...*L*) but that whole time this Holden exec vehicle with lambs wool luxury sheep covers (which had probably never seen a teenagers' butt in it let alone a car seat) had no problem sitting there with his indicator on for 10 minutes and wait for the parent park. I actually stood there whilst DH strapped in baby and indicated to the 'parents' park sign which he vehmently ignored/didn't care about. I was seething at the thought of some poor parent walking half a k from parking in the sunshine in 30degree+ heat with a toddler or infant while this selfish bloke parked his posh car in a parent park.

I guess it's conceivable he COULD have been picking someone up with a baby in a capsule but I highly doubt it. Once I got my license after Maddy was born, I got into the habit of waving down a car that I spied had kids in carseats and indicating ahead to where I was parked. They never got fed up waiting while I was getting Maddy sorted, and I helped out a fellow parent.