Parent and Child Parking-No More Drama

There is a new health condition that I have diagnosed myself with. Parent-parking-spaces-itus. I am self-diagnosed but none-the-less, much affected.

I have suffered from the condition for at least four years. Read about past outbreaks here but I would like to say, while I am not fully cured, I am on the mend and it is all thank to this woman:

Meet Rebecca West.

Although we have never met, I feel this lovely lady really is my sister from another mother.

Fed up with being unable to get her baby in and out of the car because of inconsiderate drivers, parking too close, she took matters into her own hands.

Rather than ram the other car with the passenger door or wind mirror (like I would have done), this girl started her own business and believe me, it should be on Dragon’s Den.

Originally from the UK, Bec moved to Australia with her husband in 2009 for six months. Bec liked the sunshine (who wouldn’t?) and four and a half years later, the pair have settled down in Perth.

When they had their son, Montgomery, at 8lb 2oz born, he quickly packed on a decent amount of weight. The couple had a moveable car seat (known as a car capsule in Oz) and kept finding people were parking really close so that, like me and many other parents out there, she was struggling to open the door wide enough to get the seat in and out.

Added to that, Bec was recovering from a c-section so manhandling a large baby and car seat into the car was difficult to say the least. So she started having a look around for a sticker to put on her window, but couldn’t find anything suitable.

So, beng the proactive type of person that she is, Bec decided to make her own sticker in the hope people would give me her more space.

She then mentioned it to a couple of friends in various baby classes she attended and a few were interested so she decided to get a few printed and set up an online store.

There are two types of sticker, one that goes on the inside of the window and one, like mine which goes on the outside. My new car has blacked out widows at the back so otherwise, you wouldn’t see the sticker.

I am not saying everyone is going to heed my polite sticker-the first day I used it, another mother parked like this:

but I think you will agree that it is hard to miss which is the whole point.

Maybe, just maybe, I can avoid road rage in the future and people might be more considerate.

I am not sure Bec made the stickers with this in mind but I have also found another good use for them. At the shopping centre the other day, I forgot where I had parked my car. Usually it takes me ages to find it but, after a quick scan of the rows upon rows of parked cars, I found mine in record time-all because of the stickers. I was so relieved and pleased.

Bec then came up with the emergency cards idea when a guy pulled out on her with her baby in the car and she realised if she was in an accident and incapacitated Monty wouldn’t be able to tell anyone who he was.

So the cards enable drivers to provide emergency details of some close friends and family who could be contacted in the event of an accident. What a great idea.

Whilst none of us want to think about bad things happening, if you travel in a car with children, it really is the responsible thing to do.

The Car stickers cost £3.83 and the Emergency Cards cost £2.40. Pennies really, to avoid mum-rage in the Parent and Child Parking Spaces. That will do for me. You can buy the stickers here.

We have five car stickers to give away. To be in with a chance of winning, enter the Raffecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway