Coming from the UK I was surprised that parent and child parking spaces are few and far between in Dubai (scroll to the bottom of this post to see where they’ve been spotted). Especially with the massive American cars and regular sized parking spaces. It’s near impossible to get in and out yourself let alone get a car seat in and out!
Are they a right?
Obviously the debate remains in the UK on whether these priority car park spaces are a right, a privilege or a mere marketing strategy by local authorities, retail parks and supermarkets.
There are the obvious arguments for and against parent and child spaces… ‘I physically can’t get my Childs car seat out of the car’, ‘I don’t want to dent other peoples cars’… against ‘You chose to have kids’ and ‘find a bigger space and walk further like everyone else’… blah blah blah… I could literally go on forever but quite frankly it’s boring. And for the older generation that say they didn’t have this in their day… Whatever Margaret, car seats didn’t even exist then!🤣🤣🤣
The fact is that whilst they’re not legally enforceable in the UK they do provide a safe space for parents to get their children in and out of the car. The distance from the entrance to the shop etc isn’t the issue here… The value in these car park spaces is the space around the car to get children in and out safely. I just want to clarify that I don’t think that these spaces should take priority over disabled spaces but feel they should be considered in addition to them. And yea so where does it end, pregnancy spaces, elderly spaces… I mean in this day and age I really don’t know but from personal experience the parent and child spaces have honestly been a life saver. There’s space to get your child and their stroller out safely. I challenge anyone against this argument to park a car between two cars and get a car seat out without banging doors or your child’s head, then getting a stroller out of the boot/trunk and getting that round to the front of the car etc. It’s really not easy and sometimes physically impossible! I consciously try to park at the end of a row of cars or near a pillar with extra space etc. I reverse or forward park so that Masons side has the space to get him in and out. He’s not in a detachable car seat anymore but I still need to open the door to strap him in and get him out. We’ll soon have a baby car seat to contend with too later this year when baby no.2 arrives!
Who, When, Where?
As you can tell I’m kind of passionate about this and would love to be able to contact someone about introducing these spaces in Dubai? I understand that things in Dubai are privately owned so there’s no ‘local authority’ as such. Any suggestions on who I can contact would really be appreciated. Please email me or comment below, thank you!! I was thinking Malls etc. Maybe developers like Emaar? If you have any contacts please let me know. Thank you.
UPDATE ON WHERE THERE ARE PARENT & CHILD SPACES IN DUBAI
There are a small number of parent and child spaces dotted around Dubai. I’ll keep updating this list as and when more come to light.
- Mall of Emirates – they have a small amount of spaces on level 2 and 3.
- Ikea at Festival City – sign posted in the Ikea car park.
- Deira City Centre – small amount of family and expectant mothers spaces.
- Mirdif City Centre – they offer a small amount of parent & child spaces.
- Arabian Ranches 1 souk – a few spaces near the entrance to Mediclinic.
- Me’aisem City Centre – small amount of family parking spaces.
- Times Square Centre – parent and child spaces available
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