A Couple of
weeks ago I made the somewhat brave decision to go and do some food shopping
with our Princess and the babies. Of course I am not confined to the house when
I am alone with our youngest three children but trips out are usually limited
to the park or play area. Anyone who has a two year old knows that there is
something about supermarkets and toddlers that don’t mix well, as soon as they
walk through the front door they turn into some horrible, unrecognisable
creature who most suffering parents would be happy to deny all knowledge of! This
was probably not my best decision and anticipating the possible outcome of this
trip put me in a questionable mood before I had even left the house.
It was early
on a Friday afternoon. We pulled onto the car park of our local supermarket it
was ridiculously busy. I drove to the parent and child bays but they were all
full!
Great!!!!
Not only
that in one of the bays a van was parked, a man was getting out… on his own!!
No child!!!! I was fuming and really felt I needed to tell this inconsiderate
man how annoyed I was. My plan was to shout to him through my open window…
‘Excuse me,
what do you think you are doing, I have three babies with me and we need this
parking space’
I didn’t
shout. I stopped myself what if he was a serial killer or some kind of gangster
(A bit of a random thought pattern I know but one I learned as a child when my
Nannar would convince me and my sister that every single person beyond the
garden gate was a child snatcher) I then had the fabulous idea of taking a
picture of his van and uploading it to Facebook with an explanation of his
inconsiderate actions! But quickly thought against it just to be on the safe
side!
I pulled off
and continued to drive around the busy car park trying to find a parking space
for this horrendous, huge car that we have. That’s another thing on my ‘most
annoying list’ our car! It’s more like a bus, parking it is a nightmare and Mr
S notices every little scratch. The Babies were starting to get restless and
our Princess was getting agitated and wanting out of her seat. I found a couple
of spaces at the far end of the car park and yes even with my questionable
parking skills I would have been able to fit in them but I defiantly would not
have had enough room both sides to get the babies out and there was also no
place for me to safely put the buggy whilst I was transferring the babies from
the car.
The next
time you drive to the supermarket and decide to park in a parent and child space
because you’re only going to be a couple of minutes or you only need a pint of
milk or a loaf of bread, spare a thought for Mums and Dads like me who have
just spent the morning trying to leave the house only to arrive at our destination
to discover it’s almost impossible to leave the car!
Parent and
child spaces were not designed because parents become lazy when they have had
children and can’t be bothered to walk an extra few steps to the entrance. They
are needed by parents. The extra-large spaces allow you to load and unload your
toddlers or babies safely in and out of the car and they are usually closer to
the entrance in order to avoid small children crossing a large car park. They
provide the much needed extra room to erect buggies and have enough space
around the car for your child to sit in their buggies without being in the path
of oncoming traffic.
Baby and
Toddler spaces are a godsend to me and thousands of other Mums and Dads across
the country. They are one of those little things that makes life just that
little bit easier. We need those spaces so please leave them for us!!!
Literally nothing annoys me more than this! Your thought pattern was perfect too, we went to Aldi the other day andtye same thing happened. My husband said 'wow look at all his kids', to which the man flu g himself round shouting at my husband nearly hitting him. Really not worth saying anything. Vans are the worst and women with teenagers saying 'they are my baby'. Knobs! People just don't understand that you physically need the space to get car seats out and strap toddlers in and out. Grr. Can you tell it annoys me too??,:) x
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading Laura Wilson! I too have encountered the parents with teenagers they seem to be the worst!! X x
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