[Closed] Dear School-runners (a mini-rant)

I do so love getting advice from those who do not have kids about what is best to do with kids.
Bookmark this page and re read it when you have kids.
We all thought like you , to some degree, before they arrived.
I dont think you will persuade a parent about parenting from your position tbh

Anything you would like me to tell you about computers as I am as well qualified in that area as you are in parenting.

FWIW my kids dont care if it rains and nor do i

I take your point, but the thrust of what I'm getting at isn't "how to raise your kids", it's "how to improve parking for everyone." Wouldn't you welcome more available parking spaces? As you rightly point out, I'm not qualified to advise on the finer points of child-rearing.

By putting the P&C spaces further back and providing a clearly marked pedestrian path from there to the supermarket

If they could deliver on the path (by sacrificing enough parking spaces to provide it) then that would work for me.

I suspect a mum pushing a trolley with one hand, a pushchair with the other, carrying a nappy bag, and holding some reins in her teeth, may still want a place near the door though. 🙂

The Police do **** all about stupid drivers parking anywhere to drop their offspring off, they would have a field day around near me with a high school and primary opposite each other,the amount of drivers parking on pavements and double yellows driving along on the phone ignoring painted roundabouts as though they don't exist, and parking on blind bends and not giving way when parked cars on their side of the road. 😈

Why would you be carrying bags when you've got a perfectly serviceable trolley right in front of you?

There's no helping the stupid.

I dont care as i dont shop in supermarkets much and taking your kids shopping is madness. They try to persuade you to buy anything with a pic of their favourite character on .....to their credit the organic Scooby Do tri colour pasta was OK and it was amusing eating ghosts...the Dalek biscuits were not so good.

I wish they would stop building all the new schools with the pedestrian access from pavement and bus stop through a staff car park.
Sets the subliminal message 'take the car'.
IMO, the bus should stop at the school front gate, bike shed should be next to main entrance and staff and visitors park round the back.
Lost track of how many 'eco' builds this seems to apply to - schools, offices, hospitals etc.

The closest nursery we could get our kid into is 5 miles away, and in back streets with no parking at all.

I could maybe cycle it but Mrs Grips can't.

I could maybe cycle it but Mrs Grips can't.

Aren't most good schools over subscribed these day?
Just make walking to school one of the entrance requirements.....

Aren't most good schools over subscribed these day?

Are you soluble? Buy a brolly.

Thanks, but i've got enough to carry as it is.

Why would you be carrying bags when you've got a perfectly serviceable trolley right in front of you?

There's no helping the stupid.

Ok, talk me through how this works with a toddling 2 year old and a one year old.

Seriously, from door through to returning the trolley

Sam - some of us did this with a new born, toddler and 3 year old.
We often chose to walk to the supermarket (nearly a mile) with double buggy and rucsacks for shopping. Most weeks it was one of us in car, and you could not park in the kids spot more often than not. So you just do it.

Well, I can see the Nike attitude to shopping might be attractive to some. However, things could be easier.

Ok, talk me through how this works with a toddling 2 year old and a one year old.

Seriously, from door through to returning the trolley

[url= http://www.tesco.com/groceries/ ]Linky[/url]

I've been told that people went shopping with young children even before supermarkets and second cars!

Ok, talk me through how this works with a toddling 2 year old and a one year old.

Seriously, from door through to returning the trolley

Must admit many of the posts on this thread ring a bell, the absolute worst bit of my commute is past a primary school, normally I'm early enough that there is no-one about but on occasional days when I'm late or coming home very early its no fun.

The school has a combination of yellow barriers, yellow bollards, signage about not killing children, indicative speed warning signs and creepy-as-hell concrete child statues lining the roadsides as well as a lollypop man, lights controlled crossing and speed bumps. Its also got a cycle lane in the road next to the main gate that forms the main link for a safe route avoiding two major roads into town. I should stress that despite the road safety kit its not a busy road outside of school hours

Unfortunately the school was expanded a couple of years back so the car park is now home to new classrooms, parents have responded by [s]making a concerted effort to walk the kids to school noting its a small primary with a limited catchment and parking only in designated bays in the local area[/s] putting their hazards on, parking on the pavement, parking in the cycle lane, reversing down the road at speed to grab a prime spot on the pavement by the gates, performing 37 point turns in traffic and generally acting like utter pr**ks. The really fun part is the combination of child safety barriers and other pavement features like the bollards with morons pulling into the cycle lane to drop off their kids - you can't do much other than slam on the brakes and hope as you can't go right (back end of 4x4/people carrier parked at an angle in way), can't go left (leering face of concrete kiddie and/or neon barrier) and straight ahead puts you into the passenger seat of the vehicle, fun times.

taking your kids shopping is madness

But leaving them at home on their own is frowned upon for some reason 😉

I wish they would stop building all the new schools with the pedestrian access from pavement and bus stop through a staff car park.

Here here. At my office there is NO pedestrian access, despite being well served by public transport. You can only access the door by walking up the ramp to the car park. Approaching on foot from the south (where all the bus stops are) you have to either walk around three sides of the building to the car park ramp or scramble over the fence.

We often chose to walk to the supermarket (nearly a mile)...

Do-able if you have a supermarket less than a mile away, have a rucksack big enough to fit the bi-monthly shop in it, and you are strong enough to carry a full trolley load on your back whilst pushing a pram and pulling a toddler.

Sadly that narrows the target audience to roughly 1 in 6 million (you) 😀

I've been told that people went shopping with young children even before supermarkets and second cars!

True. My mums generation used to leave all the babies outside in prams while they did their shopping! 😯

Cougar - P&C child spaces are at the front of supermarkets as the people who use them spend the most money. Ergo the supermarkets want to incentivise these people to shop at their store. It's just economics.

My fave was the Audi driver (worse than BMWs these days) who decided to use the last space at my tesco to sit and wait for his bimbo mrs. After waiting patiently for him to realise people did actually want use the space the look on his face when I knocked on his window and asked him to move screamed "I'm a massive bell".

As Bradley would say. ****s

*shows off the guns*

We were fortunate, but it is amazing how much you can fit under a double buggy and in a 65lt rucsac. For some reason though we kept wearing buggy wheels out... 😕

Thanks, but i've got enough to carry as it is.
...
Ok, talk me through how this works with a toddling 2 year old and a one year old.

Coats? Bags on the trolley hooks? Home delivery? Reins? Child seats in trolleys? Weekly shopping at weekends when there's two of you to share the load, or one to shop and one to childmind at home?

But really, it's not my place to be working out your practicalities here. Are you really arguing that you'd rather have unavailable P&C parking bays next to the store rather than available ones farther away?

Ok, talk me through how this works with a toddling 2 year old and a one year old.

Seriously, from door through to returning the trolley

Easy I do it once a week when I take my two, aged 3 and nearly 2 to Morrisons-it's their treat when it's pishing down and too wet to go to the playground.Morrison trolleys are two seaters.
1)Park car near trolley park if no Pand C spaces available.
2) Get trolley by inserting coin in slot.Return to car and apply trolley brake.
3)Put kids in trolley.Release brake and off we go

What's so hard about that?

+1 for Scooby Doo coloured pasta shapes

Scrolled back a bit. Re parent and child spaces, anyone been to Sainsburys in Farnham?

Loads of P&Cs all along the front of the shop, going away form the entrance. So they are not attractive to the lazy people being not right by the door, but there's tons of room and a dry walkway under the roof of the shop. And funnily enough, we found a space every time.

If it's such a huge problem manoeuvring all that baggage across a car park, how on earth do you fare in the store? Anyway.

he told you reins ...obviously he knows about how careful you need to be with reins and when they fall you need to be able to lift up as well to swing them away from danger and he can do this for two kids whilst steering the trolley through the carpark

I had reins and I don't appear to be dead. /shrug

But again, I take your point. I've no idea. I'm not a parent. But people seem to be focusing on taking my suggestion apart rather than really fielding it though. Would you not rather have to walk a bit farther if it meant that you actually got a dedicated parking space?

Playing devil's advocate, if I couldn't deal with two kids, I wouldn't have two kids. If by some twist of fate I suddenly found myself with them and thus supermarket shopping became a logistical nightmare, I'd order online and have a week's shop delivered on a Saturday afternoon.

But really, it's not my place to be working out your practicalities here. Are you really arguing that you'd rather have unavailable P&C parking bays next to the store rather than available ones farther away?

I'm not asking you to work out my practicalities, I'm inviting you you tomthink the through the process, so that you consider the problems you might face. A bit of visualisation if you will. Of course internet shopping overcomes the issues, but that's not really dealing with the current topic. After all it could then be argued that we don't need supermarkets at all. As cncerns the choice, there are already lots of accesible parking spaces far from the store, i don't need any more. So, essentially your idea reduces to getting rid of the p&c spaces and offering little else inreturn

if I couldn't deal with two kids, I wouldn't have two kids

How would you know if you could deal with them or not though?

if I couldn't deal with two kids, I wouldn't have two kids

Unfortunately you don't know whether or not you can deal with two kids or how you will deal with them, until you have two kids. By then you just have to muddle through like the rest of us

By then you just have to muddle through like the rest of us

I think you just summed up parenting. 😆 😕

And of course different kids are different...

I had reins and I don't appear to be dead. /shrug

Is it glib pointless point time?

What peole are saying is it is harder than not having kids could you leave the facilities for those who actually need them

FWIW i think this includes those with older children as you can get lder kids safely through a carpark

molgrips - Member

And of course different kids are different...

mine are fine. little angels, in fact. but then again, they are imaginary kids.

Long term testa on the use of reins have shown that kids who wear reins for extended periods ended up having involutary tics in their shoulders.

I'm inviting you you tomthink the through the process, so that you consider the problems you might face.

Sure, fair call. And I'm randomly suggesting alternatives. As I've said repeatedly, I'm not arguing from a position of experience here.

I simply thought that by making P&C bays less attractive to the selfish by moving them somewhere a little further back and providing safe passage to them, their legitimate users would ultimately benefit.

After all it could then be argued that we don't need supermarkets at all.

If everyone had Internet access, enough money for a weekly shop, and the wherewithal to forward-plan, we probably don't need supermarkets. I fall down on the latter category, I'm at the supermarket two or three times a week because my meal-planning skills are lacking.

there are already lots of accesible parking spaces far from the store, i don't need any more. So, essentially your idea reduces to getting rid of the p&c spaces and offering little else inreturn

Hm, good point. Maybe what's needed then is improved accessibility to all parking bays so that people can access them more safely wherever they are.

Or smaller car parks so that all the spaces are near the store

How would you know if you could deal with them or not though?

I think that's readily apparent from my contributions thus far in here. (-:

Is it glib pointless point time?

Is it sense of humour failure time? Please don't start taking me seriously, I'm being daft not aggressive.

I've asked several times what the problem is with reins. If you could explain, it'd be appreciated.

is it is harder than not having kids could you leave the facilities for those who actually need them

No arguments here. At the risk of repeating myself, that's what I'm suggesting, making the facilities more available by discouraging improper use.

I take back what I said about the back of the car park, moving them to the second or third row would be enough to make them unappealing to the selfish. In the grand scheme of things, the impact to you there should be minimal, no?

The row 2 row 3 option might work, but really it would be good if there were some way of enforcing the currently voluntary arrangement

Commuted past schools when I was in the UK, one in the Lakes, parking round the back but parents CBA so make the road to a busy junction effectively 1 way. Helped driving a transit through that. Some nights I would be stuck on the main road as the side road was blocked. Nearly wore the horn out. In Rochdale there was 1 route that you couldn't take at school times. Waste of everybodies time there were busses!!

Over here in Oz the worst offenders at out local primary school hover past the DO NOT PARK areas then just stop, I must confess to getting closer to them as they approach to try and heard them into the car park that is 20m further up the street.

As for P&C spaces they are simply as the market research says parents spend more. I'll park in one if the car park is full.

Short of closing roads past schools at certain times or owning your own tow truck there isn't much that can be done. Those who do it will always say they have to.

As for nearly being hit by the idiots try telling the kids to remind mummy to look for cyclists as she nearly KILLED ME!

As for P&C spaces they are simply as the market research says parents spend more. I'll park in one if the car park is full.

****

Those who do it will always say they have to.

Very Funny Sam 1 is contravening traffic laws 1 is using the last space in the supermarket without parking in the disabled space.

Why not just park in the disabled space? That's not contravening traffic laws either?

Why do you feel the need to call someone a ****?

It wasn't a need, more of an inclination.

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Junkyard - Member

I do so love getting advice from those who do not have kids about what is best to do with kids.
Bookmark this page and re read it when you have kids.
We all thought like you , to some degree, before they arrived.
I dont think you will persuade a parent about parenting from your position tbh

Why do you assume everyone will have children?

Several of your comments reminded me of this: