Acting Childish About The Child Space

(My sister-in-law and I take my one-year-old daughter to a famous Swedish furniture store. I find a nice parking space in the family parking area, almost right in front of the entrance. My daughter is still young but will not tolerate a stroller at the moment, so I’m quite happy about not having to carry her through the whole lot. We are debating buying a new desk for my sister-in-law and toys for my daughter while getting out of the car and getting our bags, so we’re not really attentive to other cars. I am on my way back to the door to get my daughter out of her seat when an SUV stops right behind our car and a lady starts yelling at us. As I am not paying attention, I don’t quite catch what she is yelling and think she is asking whether we are moving soon. So I gesture and tell her:)

Me: “No, we just arrived and are heading into the store right now.”

Lady: *quite snippy and loudly yelling* “You do know this is for Mother-Child Parking?!”

Me: *finally understanding her* “Erm, yeah. So?”

Lady: *still yelling* “You can’t park here! You don’t have a child!”

Me: “Well, I do.”

(I start again going to the other door, as I had stopped to talk with her.)

Lady: “I need this parking space; you don’t have a child!”

Me: “We are here with my daughter, so stop yelling. There is another parking space right over there!”

(I pointed one car down, in the direction where she must have come from. There were more a few more cars down, too. I finally went over to the other door and began getting my daughter out of her seat, amazed that she didn’t start fussing. All the time, I almost expected the lady to get out of her car and check whether we really had a child with us. She did stay with her car right there, blocking the way, and watched us getting the baby out, locking the doors, and going into the store. I can understand resentment against those wrongly using the parking spaces meant for families just for convenience’s sake, but just because we preferred getting our bags out before handling a handful of baby, it doesn’t warrant a yelling fit.)