Pregnant women,no child,parking in parent n child bays.what do u think?

[jellybean87]

I will use the disabled spaces at my supermarket to park in. I have severe SPD and struggle to walk and am using crutches. They are never full, and there is alot of them, but if there was only 1 or 2 spaces left I wouldn't park in it. I know alot of people don't agree with it though. I don't park in them elsewhere as they are very limited.

Can you get your Dr to apply for a short term disability pass for you so you can use them legally?

I didn't know that was possible, but I will look into it thank you

 

[lj2245]

I wouldn't use either. I'm not legally entitled to use a disabled bay so don't use that. P&C spaces are there for the sole purpose of allowing extra space to allow a parent to transfer a child from the car to a pram without having to park the pram behind the car in the path of traffic. Just as disabled spaces are wider to make it easier on wheelchair users. I am plus sized and have a massive bump and I have no problem getting in and out of my car. People mistakenly think the spaces are there because they are nearer to the shop but that's not the only reason. Having had a small child in a buggy, I know how frustrating it is to see someone who doesn't have a child in a pram use the space and I've had to use a normal space. I stopped using the P&C spaces when my son stopped using a buggy. I will do the same with this baby.

 

[Annie77]

My local supermarket is open 24 hours and as I am a night owl I often go shopping late at night (ie after 8/9pm). I have no problem parking in parent and child spaces at this time as there are usually plenty as most young kids are in bed. However, I would never park in a disabled parking space - even if there were 20 empty spaces at midnight - even with my belt and crutches.

 

[d_b]

My local supermarket actually has 'expectant mother' spots but not 'parent and young children' spots. But most other places just have the 'parent and young children' spots.

I feel fine during pregnancy so I don't use the expectant mother spots often. But if I had pain walking or anything I'd use them all the time.

I use the 'parent and young children' spots when I'm with DS when I go to the mall. But at the grocery stores that have them, they're no where near the place where you leave the carts. So I park near the cart drop off spot instead, as DS rides in the cart I don't want to have to carry him or have him walk in the parking lot. I would never use the spots without DS, if I'm going to walk around the mall anyway it wont hurt to walk across a parking lot too!

 

[Babee_Bugs]

With regards to parent and child spaces, when i didnt have my children with me in the early stages of this pregnancy i did use just the normal spaces.... But now being HUGE i find unless im not in a parent or child space, or in a space where no other car is parked next to me, its impossible to squeeze out haha

 

[littlesteph]

i don't really think it's right to, i do think that there should be bays for pregnant ladies as long as they are over a certain number of weeks.
doing the shopping and finding a parking space it a nightmare it bugs the hell out of me when you see people park in a parenting bay that have no children with them.

 

[MumMumMum]

I wouldn't use a disabled space.

I use the P&C spaces when DD is with me. At the moment if I go without her I don't use them - but I might if I go nearer the end of my pregnancy. It doesn't seem to matter if I park so there's room to get out - some idiot will park into the space while I'm in the shop and make it impossible for a non-pregnant person to get in, never mind me. Climbing over the hand brake will only get harder the further on I get

I do find it frustrating when people use the P&C spaces with older children, who don't need to sit in the trolley or a have a pushchair. People seem to think they can park in them at our supermarket when they have teenagers in the car

They are there so you can get the child safely in and out of a car seat and into the trolley etc. I hate when they are full and I have to use a normal one. It's one thing to leave shopping in a trolley in the road but not when your child is in the seat while you open the door. When I have two to load I will just wait for a P&C space.

 

[mandaxx]

I park I both because I have two kids and am disabled. I walk with crutches and can't walk far, so both I use.

 

[ukgirl23]

Im a mum with two small children who is pregnant and it annoys me so much when people without kids use the parent bays.. its not just that they are close to the store which makes it easier to cross the busy carpark with small children but they also have wider bays so little ones can get in and out with buggies and car seats ect... if you are pregnant you can still walk from the next lane over.. I dont use parent parking when my kids arent with me. If you find find it so difficult to walk to the shop a few meters further then you shouldnt be going shopping lol. youre pregnant not disabled!!

 

[lovehearts]

It annoys me SO much when I see people with Older children using the P&C spaces, you would think they would understand how difficult it is to squeeze a car seat through a tiny gap, or how dangerous it is to load a toddler in a pram behind the car. It annoys me even more when i see OAPs parking in them!!!!!!!! I didnt use them whilst i was pregnant with my son but i was pretty active during my pregnancy and wasnt beyond huge at the end so was pretty able to use normal spaces. I wouldnt mind seeing a heavily pregnant lady using one that was struggling.
xx

 

[mspotter]

I would never use a disabled space, im not disabled and i dont have a badge. Its not even an excuse that theres loads of them and theyr always half empty!
I also wouldnt use a p&c space if i didnt have ds with me. I need the space to get him out and into either buggy or trolley. When this baby comes along i'l have ds to put in the trolley and a car seat to get out. Totally not safe in a normal space where i'd have to put the trolley behind the car instead of in the space provided for that exact purpose next to the car.
I totally get that some ladies suffer really badly with spd etc and that makes it difficult to walk any distance. In those cases those ladies should be able to apply for temporary disabled badges to allow them to park in disabled bays closer to the shops.
I would and have reported people for parking in the p&c spots when they havent got and children with them

 

[OmiOmen]

I don't think there is any excuses to use a disabled parking spot unless you are disabled.

As for parent and child spots I don't think you should use them when pregnant. You might think it makes things easier for you as a pregnant woman but think about the poor woman shopping with a baby and a toddler. Frankly shopping with a toddler can be a nightmare and I can only imagine (until I find out for myself in a few weeks) how hard it must be to get in and out of a car and go shopping with two or more young kids. Or even the heavily pregnant women with young kids.

Ultimately first time-mums, and yes I was the same in my last pregnancy, think that life as a pregnant woman is really hard and it really can be but actually having kids is harder and that is why those parking spots exist.

In my last pregnancy I had problems with my back and pelvis along with a high-risk pregnancy including pre-eclampsia so was eventually told not to so much as do the washing up in my last pregnancy and I still would never have used a P&C spot while pregnant with no child. I would now but not because of suffering with a very bad back, breach pains at the top of my bump which make me breathless, or a painful pelvis but because I am heavily pregnant WITH a toddler.

 

[RaisinKane13]

I would never, ever use a handicap parking place. They are for people who are actually handicap and probably struggle to get themselves out of the house let alone to look for a parking spot 8 miles back.

Secondly, When it comes to the Parent with little children spots, I would also not park there. I do not have small children, and as others have said, parents need these parking spots because they are larger and it is easier to get the children in and out of their cars.

The only spot I would use is a little children/ expectant mother spot. And the only time I would use that parking spot is if I absolutely cannot walk. I am huge right now, and yes it hurts to walk but what do I expect? I am 3 times the size I should ever be! lol I still park in any spot other than these certain designated parking spots. Granted, I do park as close as possible, but I am not taking a spot that is there to help people who have difficulty getting in and out because they have children.

However, I was thinking that if I was really in that much pain, I most likely wouldn't leave my house. So I cannot ever really see myself using the spots until I actually have my LO.

 

[Athena]

If I was finding it difficult to get out of the car with there not being enough space I would park at the bottom of the car park where no one else parks and walk to the supermarket, it's a car park not a 10 mile hike lol!!

On the flipside when I broke my back two years ago, I had a temp disabled badge which entitled me to a disabled space but I was too embarrassed to use it after I got a couple of rude stares from other people, I wanted to unbutton my coat and show my body brace to prove I was actually incapacitated, needles to say I shopped online for a few months!!

 

[3xpire]

A couple stores around here have parking spaces for expectant mothers, but I definitely agree with Pansy, they're misused enough as it is. I mean, if you legitimately have a reason to use one of the parking spaces for the disabled (ex. your in labor and you need to make a quick stop), why not.

 

[minnie83]

I wouldn't have a problem seeing a heavily pregnant woman parking in a child/toddler spot, but it really annoys me when the spaces get abused and people with no kids park there! I saw a man parking in one of the child spaces a few weeks ago in a nice posh fancy car (when I couldn't find one and had to park in a normal space and struggle with Liv's car seat and my big bump in a narrow space) and I said at the top of my voice 'wow, look at that man over there Liv, he has an invisible baby! That's amazing!'. He scurried into the shop quite red faced..... there was nothing wrong with him he was just being lazy.

Also, I don't have a problem with disabled people using them if there's no disabled spaces left, but it annoys me when they park in one when there's LOADS if disabled spaces free as I would never park in one of theirs!n

 

[JenX]

I have never seen any of these parents with children parking spots before- do they exist in the US?

 

[MarcsMrs]

I would only park in one when Ive my LO with me! I had awful pain at the end of my pregnancy & struggled to walk & might have considered it then, but knowing now how hard it is carting kids around the place I wouldnt park there no matter how much pain I was in!

 

[Starry Night]

I'm always surprised at how emotional people get over this issue. Are these parent&child spaces considered legal disabled spots in the UK? In Canada, they are simply considered 'courtesy' spots. As far as I'm aware, there is no penalty to park there as there is no required badges or plates. And as someone else mentioned, the signs say for expectant mothers AND parents of small children. Not 'expectant mothers who are parents of small children. Anyways, most stores only have like 3 of these spaces so most have to park in the regular spots. And some of the spaces at our local grocery store are far from the store but beside the shopping cart area in the middle of the lot.

And I don't know why there is this pressure to be a super-hero while pregnant. If you're in pain and can hardly breathe, why not use a space made available to you? That's why it's there!

 

[mspotter]

In the uk they are just labelled Parent & Child and usually have a bit of small print saying please only park here with children under 5. We dont have the expectant mother spaces (or if we do i'v never seen one) if they were labelled expectant mothers AND parents with young children then this whole debate would be void as pregnant ladies would be fully entitled to park in them, no questions asked!
They are tho, as you say, only courtesy spaces not enforceable. Just some people dont seem to be very courteous! (not talking about preg ladies, i mean the ones with big 4x4s or flash cars with no kids that just park in them because they'r wider and less chance of their pride and joy getting scratched!!)