what age for parent and child spaces
Just out of interest I wondered what your opinion was on the age limit for using parent and child spaces. I went to my local waitrose yesterday and a lady parked next to me where a child of about 6 got out in school uniform... my immediate reaction was thats ridiculous she can walk BUT the sign does say parent and child rather than parent and baby/toddler....
ITs a bain of my life as I have a 20 month old and 7 months pregnant so really really struggle if the spaces are filled, and people in my area seem to abuse the spaces!
what do you think??? x
ITs a bain of my life as I have a 20 month old and 7 months pregnant so really really struggle if the spaces are filled, and people in my area seem to abuse the spaces!
what do you think??? x
0
Replies
lelly
xxxx
I think the key is in the wording too!
Parent not Parents, it winds me up when there are two adults with a child using these spaces. If there are two adults, where is the struggle?
It is supposed help a parent who is juggling shopping and kids.
My girls are 13 and 9 years old and the only time I use the spaces are if I'm popping in for 5 mins and one of them is asleep in the car. It rarely happens, maybe twice ever, but I feel that I have the right to keep my child close to the entrance in this situation.
I am now expecting another baby and I will be using the P&C spaces when my bump gets huge. I'll need the extra space to negotiate my bump in and out the car
As for the two parent issue, the struggle (for us at any rate) is getting a child into a car seat without opening the door fully, an issue whether one or two parents is there. The extra space has been a godsend when having my husband there wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference! (Oh, and the pictogram on the signs at our shop shows two parents and one child.)
My Asda has parent & child spaces - and it does say 'child' rather than just baby / toddler - so I guess I would be within my rights to use them with any of the children - just that with the older boys I don't really need to.
In my Sainsbury's it specifies children under 12, but I've seen people using them with just teenagers in the car (unless they were v grown up looking 11 yr olds lol).
I must admit I'd never thought of it being 'parent' rather than 'parents' - like THG the issue was with space around the car and getting a baby seat in and out - almost impossible in a normal parking space! Even now my dd is in a stage 2 car seat, it's v difficult to get her in and out without the door fully open.
I use them as I've got a toddler and need them for the extra space when getting her out of the car seat. Even if hubby and I are in the car we still use them as the positioning of the spaces is much safer if Skye tried to make a dash for it i.e. in Morrisons they are the only spaces in the car park where there is actually a safe walkway to the car away from traffic. There are no paths anywhere else in the entire car park so I would have to walk her with cars reversing and zooming in and out all around us, and this scares her.
My sisters boy is just 5 and she hasn't been using them for years, as he can get in and out of the car seat unaided. SHe feels they are provided for users of buggies and people with todlers etc. That said, she would would be quite within her right to use them going by the age limit given of 12 years old!
As for being close to the supermarket I admit this makes life a lot easier for me if I am shopping alone with ds, but I would not be bothered to parker further away as long as their is a path to allow you to get to the store. My local Asdas has p&c spaces next to the door and about 5 rows away. I generally use the 5 rows away as they normally have one available and have a clear run to the entrance.
My real bain is seeing 2 seater sports cars with no car seats parked in the p&c who are they trying to kid!
On another hate as people are got me ranting is my local leisure center and people using the group change and the baby change rooms when they do not need to. I recently came out of the pool with ds shivering (why are changing rooms so cold) to have to wait around as I needed the baby change. I did of course start undressing him to keep him warm as poss and eventually 2 girls came out of the baby change and the group change (i try not to use this although its got a baby change in it) had 1 lad come out. Really there are plently of changing rooms and some family ones where 2 people can change so why would people do this. I had a go at the girls (the lad escaped before I could get him) and told the staff whos solution was to put a poster up!
Sorry will stop ranting now!
Apart from people with no or older children using these spaces, what really annoys me is when people park there and then don't even get the child out of the car, one parent waits in the car with the child! This really winds me up!
I use it regardless of whether hubby is with me or not, we still need the extra room to get DS out. We are also using a lightweight pushchair at the mo, that might be lightweight but it is also too long for fit in our boot! (Really should have realised that before we bought it!) So we need the extra space to get the pushchair out (we lie on the floor of the back of the car)
I do agree it seems very mean to park when it's older children BUT there is always that chance the child has additional needs that means for their safety the parent has chosen to park close to the entrance.
It does drive me mad when people park and have no children but I must admit I have sometimes parked there automatically out of habit and the realise - I then move but I'm sure sometimes people just don't think- agreed others are selfish . Late in pregnancy should be allowed in some form as big bump and tight spot don go either lol!
Even if I park correctly in the middle of the space and the cars either side have done the same, I often find them tight and have to watch my car doors hitting the other cars as the kids get out! It's ridiculous!
And as for those with no kids - it's just pure lazy!
lizsmith1982 - your post does suggest you think it's fine for pregnant ladies to use the spaces as they need extra room, but only a child - if it is in a pushchair!? I think this is rather unfair, I never take Evie's pushchair shopping with us, she has been sitting in the trolley seat for about a year now, I don't need space for a pushchair but I do need space at the side of the car to strap Evie in and out of her seat. Even if the car is originally parket with plenty of room either side, theres no garantee that whilst I shop somebody will some and park very close to our car.
I also disagree that it's easier with 2parents. If parked in a normal space no matter how many people are there to help out, squeezing a child and your arms through the car door, whilst trying no to scratch the car next to you, to get them all safely strapped in is difficult!
Yes, I agree that for this reason it's acceptable to park in these spaces when both parents are there.
In my mind the other point of p&c spaces is so babies/toddlers don't have to cross a busy car park. I suppose you could argue that it's not ideal for a 6 year old to be doing so either, but at the same time a 6 year old ought to have enough sense to follow instructions and stay close to its parent whereas a toddler can't necessarily be expected to.
I always think of the parent and child spaces as being when you need extra space on either side of the car for whatever reason. I used these spaces when 8+ months pregnant as I literally couldn't squeeze in and out of my car in the normal spaces. I now use them to be able to get Abby out of her car seat - so definitely not an issue of whether it is one or both of us. Our spaces at Sainsburys are not directly outside the store anyway so we have to cross part of the parking area - my main problem is that mad dash to return the trolley whilst leaving Abby in the car - I hate it!
The age limit is 12, which I think is silly but struggling with a number of 6/7 year olds I could also imagine to be awkward. Really it should be down to the common dendency of people to think about whether they really need the space or not. One person with a good 4 year old might need it less than a person with an ADHD 10 year old. I know my sister (Aspergers) used to run out in front of cars until about 11.
Unfortunately people are more concerned about what they consider to be their "rights" than what they actually need.
H xx
Tescos seem to have the right idea imo having them up to age 5 - I think that by the time the child is at school they are generally out of the car seats and capable of getting in and out by themselves and fastening themselves in.
As for having 2 parents therefore not needing the space.. um no. whether my husband and I are on our own or together one of us still needs to lean in and fasten our son in and it still takes up space to open the car door enough to lift a 2 year old in and fasten him in safely - one of you stopping the car out of a space so that the other can fasten in a child in the road/car park isn't safe. And again - why should it only be for a person putting a child in a buggy. My son much prefers to walk and so we don't always taket he buggy but that doesnt mean its any easier to get him out of the car! Plus.. buggy + shopping trolley .. um nope!
One parent staying in the car with a sleeping child is taking the piss totally.. if you aren't getting the child out then you don't need the room. Although having said that - one time my son fell asleep in the trolley leaning onto my husband so my husband carried him out to the car while I finished up the shopping so it probably looked like we'd been lazy like that!!
And one last little rant lol.. I've got on my soapbox now. I don't consider it acceptable for disabled people to be able to use the p&c spaces because they can't be bothered to go check the other section of the car park where there are yet more disabled spaces or cause the disabled spaces are full. Sure a lot of people will disagree with me but it drives me mad that there are generally twic eas many disabled spaces as p&c and the p&c spaces are open to abuse. I actually had some woman who had a disabled badge who parked in a p&c space and was in receipt of a filthy look from me try and tell me that it was 'ok to park there if disabled were full and that it was ok to park in disabled spaces if p&c were full' I wo uldn't have minded so much if she or her companion struggled into a wheelchair or something but they both wandered off into the shop without a problem.
Honestly I think the p&c spaces ought to be more strictly policed with a sensible age restriction on use (12 is way too high) and permits ought to be issued and have to be used - with possible special extensions for special needs kids that aren't bad enough to actually get disability badges. At the moment I consider it abuse of the spaces to use them if you haven't got a small child with you..and yep that includes pregnant people using them - they aren't pregnant people spaces they are p&c spaces - so the sensible thing to do would be to issue permits at maybe 8 months pregnant that way its clear cut. Sure there will be lots of disagrees on that one but I would never have dreamed of parking in a p & c space when I was pregnant with my son
Think blondefriend is right actually about people bothering about their rights rather than their needs
i never park in them if i am on my own but do even if dh is with me as no matter how many adults/parents there are it doesnt make the space between the cars any bigger which is the big problem.
i really grates on me the people that park there with a carseat but no child or even without a car seat.
Asda are pretty crap about the parking spaces really.. think they only do it to look good. i've complained too and basically they work in a similar manner to public car parks or places with no parking/parking restriction signs in that the signs are used as a deterrant (which doesn't work in asda lol) and there is a car park patrol companies which comes and checks a couple of times a week for anyone parking where they shouldn't and will then ticket them but the visits are rare as the signs are meant to deter people.