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Pregnancy parking at the local grocery store is just more proof that corporate America has recognized women hold the American purse strings.
And it's just more proof that corporate America doesn't get us.
Sure, a parking spot right near the front door sounds like a great thing.
We've been teasing our handicapped friends about borrowing their pass for years. But let me ask you something: when do you really need that stork spot?
When you're pregnant and perfectly able to walk on your own two feet more than a few hundred feet into the store?
Or when you've got an antsy toddler trailing you across a crowded parking lot and a hungry baby shrieking in her carseat/carrier in the front of the cart?
The pregnancy parking spot is nice. But it would be a heckuva lot nicer if it was a parenting parking spot.
The same goes for the pregnancy checkout lane. Yes, the pregnancy checkout lane. I thought they were an urban legend until a friend reported toddling through in her heavily pregnant state while on vacation.
It was nice to pick get in and out, but she admitted to feeling a bit like she was supposed to be loading the conveyor with pickles and ice cream to evidence some insanely urgent craving rather than her staid old loaf of bread and cold cuts for a picnic in the park.
What I wouldn't give for a parents-only checkout lane, complete with an entirely blank wall on either side to protect us from the Dum Dums, gum and the gimme gimmes.
Corporate America is still failing miserably on giving women their due in terms of adequate maternity leaves and proper places to pump. So how about an exchange?
We'll give up the stork spots and the prego pass lane. You treat us like human beings with real needs when the baby comes, not frail delicate creatures up until the day we pop.
Do your local stores kowtow to pregnant women?
Image via HeyRocker/Flickr
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Comments (28)
See I never thought of it as 'being frail' but nobody pee's like a pregnant woman, right? And you don't want her to have to do that in her pants while she is frantically looking for a parking spot so she can dash into the store. Or throwing up. Or for those women who are supposed to be off their feet by drs. orders most of the time but have to run to the store for some Toilet Paper (for all that peeing they are doing)...
However I admit that now with TWO kids (one who is a crazy 3 yr. old) a parenting parking spot would be awesome. But they could never create enough to make it worthwhile...
My grocery store has family parking along the front of the store for exactly the reasons you mentioned. No crossing the parking lot and there are a surprising number of spots available at each store.
The grocery store I go to has parking spots for mom with kids. The troubling things is most people don't abide by the sign. But at least the store tried.
I disgaree, kind of. My first pregnancy was a freakin' breeze... for the most part. I was really comfortable up until the very end. Well, except that when I would stand STILL (like in a checkout line) I'd have the tendency to get dizzy and have to go sit down. It was easy since my husband went shopping with me then so I could go sit on a bench and wait, but I don't know what I would have done without him. That pregnancy "lane" would have been nice.
Second pregnancy was SO miserable that there were times walking was incredibly painful and I just needed to get in and out ASAP because I need to go home and collapse back onto the couch or bed. So those parking spots would have been helpful.
So I think pregnancy spots and whatnot ARE a good thing - but people should only use them if they NEED them.
Parenting parking spots? I'd be up for that too. ;)
I can see the pregnancy spots for women who are having a rough time. Those of us who could benefit from a stroll don't have to park there.
As for the kiddy spots, there have been a few times when I could REALLY have used one. When it was cold and raining and I was trying to take my two non-walking babies to the store because I'm a single mom and that was before I had childcare help. At least once, I had to abort the mission because there was no way I was carrying my kids through the parking lot in that state. And one time we went in, but it got worse while we were in the store, so all three of us and our stroller and purchases were soaked by the time we got back in the car. But under normal circumstances, I welcome the chance to take a walk with my kids, even if it's through the parking lot.
So what I suggest is that caring people just don't ever park "as close as you can" unless you really need to. I have friends who are obsessive about finding the closest spot even though they could really use the exercise. That bugs me. Most of the time, assuming you are able-bodied, there is someone else who needs the closer spot more than you do. If we could all just get used to thinking that way, then moms who find themselves out shopping in the freezing rain will generally find a decent parking spot.
I agree with Rana. My first pregnancy was great, no pain and I walked all the time. My second was miserable. Standing for more than a few minutes made my lower back so sore I was almost in tears. Walking was even worse, I had to shuffle my feet along while holding onto something because my tailbone slipped in and out of place. Painful does not even describe that feeling. The spots are great for people who actually need to park closer, but otherwise a waste. I have seen a couple parenting spots at the malls, but you still have to walk across traffic to get inside.
my local babies r us has storke parking, being 7 1/2 months pregnant and a 21 month old toddler we were waiting for this woman to put her kids in the car so we could park in the spot (not really close to the door but you dont have to walk miles away!) then 10 mins. later she says she isn't leaving she is parking WITH TWINS, in pregnancy parking, then she said it is easier cuz she has twins, yet everytime we park in a spot like the people check to make sure i am pregnant. that is just ignorant
Living in the city (Chicago) my whole life, walking places is just what you do. I have a car but 90% of the time walking & taking public transportation is just how it is. People here do just fine walking places with their children & going through the regular checkout line.
OK, again I'm going to appear insensitive, but seriously, pregnant women and moms with kids who don't like to shop, need to suck it up. Seriously. If you really feel that walking from your car to the store and back is too much, either with your uterus occupied or your uncooperative child(ren) in tow, then stay home and ask for help from your husband/partner/friend/neighbor/mother. Being a mother or mother-to-be is not a "disability", so please, Ladies, stop acting like you need special consideration while you run errands. Take a look around at people who have actual physical challenges that won't change in 9 months, and are doing their best to be independent, and get real.
lol most of the people I see with "real dissabilities" in the handicapped spots would lose the "disability" if fhey could lose the extra 300 pounds on their body.
Most stores around me have baby/pregnancy parking but I prefer to park next to the cart correls because its easier to just grab a cart throw the kids in the cart then when I am done we are near the cart return anyways.