Would you say something if you saw a person without a child park their car in a pram spot? Pram spots are usually offered in car parks as a ‘suggestion’, or policy – not the law – so if someone without children parks in one, should they be confronted about the error of their ways?
This was a question that a member of Mamamia‘s parenting Facebook group Mamamia Parents asked, and was previously discussed on an episode of the This Glorious Mess Podcast.
The member wrote:
“OK, so I just parked in a pram spot at my local shopping centre. A van pulled in next to me (also a pram spot) that had a baby seat in it. However, two guys got out of the car (no baby in the car) and left.
“They obviously used the spot to park the car, and at first I was annoyed – people with prams really need those spots! But then I thought, what if they were picking up kids? Would you have said something?”
LISTEN: TGM discusses whether you should confront someone who’s parked in a pram spot without a child. Post continues after.
TGM host Andrew Daddo had a fairly direct response: “She’s answered her own question, they could have been picking up a child.” He also made the point that it’s our duty to support people who need it in our community, and not make things harder for them.
Many members of the Mamamia Parents group also agreed that they would not confront a driver.
Kylie said, “I wouldn’t have said anything. While these spots are convenient, with a pram it’s not like you really need a closer spot than anyone else. If anything, parents with toddlers or pregnant women should get priority over closer spaces, beyond the necessary disability ones.”
Claire agreed, whilst noting that pram parks often are wider spaces, which is convenient for getting kids in and out without damaging other vehicles – but are not a right.
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Top Comments
I used to be opposed to Parents With Prams Parking Spots because I don't see how having children, or prams, is a disability or entitles parents to special treatment. However, I now love the things and here's why: Most people have absolutely no idea these parking spaces can be utilised by anyone and there is no enforceable law to prevent anyone from parking in them. Therefore, most people think they can't park there and bypass the vacant spots each and every time they loop the carpark looking for a parking spot. What this means for me is that I can drive straight in, park the car and happily go about my shopping. On a few occasions, someone has felt the need to point out to me that I was parking in a Parents With Prams parking space and a few people have asked me to move my car. I've never moved my car and on each and every occasion I've asked the person this: "Do I look like someone who cares?" I can't repeat some of the responses I've received to the question but what I can say is that I always politely point out that my mother raised myself and seven other children and never relied on such parking spots, despite also having to cart us all around in a clunky old van with no power steering, no mod cons and also with a spinal injury that saw her confined to bed for at least two days of every week. The parking spots are nothing more than a virtue-signalling exercise facilitated by management of shopping centres, undoubtedly because they're well aware of the fact that it pays to suck up to the mums because, more often than not, they're the holders of the credit cards and director of finance when it comes to household spending. I for one hope the virtue-signalling continues so that I am always guaranteed a parking spot when I go shopping.
I have just had to use a pram parking spot to get my 92 year old mother into the Forest Lake shopping centre in Brisbane for a quick visit to the community book exchange just inside the door. The disabled spot was already taken and there were no other parks within a short walking distance. She has painful osteoarthritis and cannot walk far at all but wants to remain as active as she possibly can so refuses any other aids such as wheelchairs or walkers. Despite having her disabled sticker on my car and me clearly helping her struggle out of the passenger side I was yelled at and abused by a mother who drove by and wanted the spot. She went on and on about how she had to get home to breastfeed her baby, and she had another small child in the car, and how dare I park there. When I went over to her car and explained how I had my mother, her age, and her incapacity she told me I should drop her off and park elsewhere. There was nowhere to safely stop the car and drop her off as the entrance was a skinny drive through thoroughfare. Another elderly couple getting into their car behind me also started telling me off and saying it was illegal to use the spot. When I explained the situation to them they just said I should park in the disabled spot, even though they could see this was taken. The mother then gave my geriatric mother, who was silently aghast through all this, the finger and drove off. We were still getting out of the car and beginning to cross the road when the mother, who had obviously found a park, walked past on her 2 functional legs yelling out that I was a bitch and we should have parked elsewhere and walked.
It was like a public lynching what with the mother and the others who had decided it was better to judge and assume without knowing or caring what was actually the reason for parking there. I did not realize having children these days now elevated your needs above the elderly, or anyone, with a functional disability. My sons are now in their 20s and grew up in and out of the car in countless shopping centre carparks all without the benefit of specially marked spots. I had a pram. I could push it and walk on my healthy legs. Had there been any courtesy parking spots like this back then I really hope I wouldn't have assumed I was more entitled than someone else who clearly needed whatever closer space was available.