I think it is great that there are now special packing spots for parents with prams. This was not the case in the early 90s when I had four children under the age of 4. Shopping centre parking was quite dangerous as one only has 2 hands you cannot push a pram and hold hands of all the walking ones at once. Luckily my kids were pretty good and didn't tend too run off. Also there were no double shopping trolleys for twins. I rarely went to the shops with all four kids by myself but I can tell many a tale of the frustration of having 4 small kids and trying to do everyday activities, that parents of 2 could do with out much trouble.

The other day I went to my local shopping centre and there is now a whole row of parking for parents with prams. About 18 were unoccupied. I had to park right at the other end of the car park whilst all these special spots are unoccupied. When I take my elderly mother to the shops all the Acrod spots are often taken but there is an over abundance of these parent and pram parking. Once I passed one of these and did not notice that it was a parent and pram one so I backed into it ( An honest mistake). I was quite proud of my clever parking. As I walked to the shops some loud mouth young woman was yelling in my general direction "Where's you baby?" As I was unaware that I had backed into the pram parking bay  ( They were new) I was wondering what she was going on about and presumed she was yelling at someone else. When I got back to the car and drove out I then glanced in the rear view mirror and realised that I had taken one of these bays.

I did feel a bit guilty, however after all the frustration I experienced all those years ago of being a mum of 4 kids , my eldest still being 3 when the  (unplanned) baby arrived, I may have given the brash young mum a tongue lashing before she headed off to waste the baby bonus. Of course another little luxury not available to parents in the 80s & 90s.