Can We Get There?

Before Alyssa, I wouldn’t have thought twice about going anywhere with friends. I could swan in and out quite easily – the only thing I might have to think about was could I suck my butt in enough to squeeze between the tables but that would be about it. However, when Alyssa was about 8 weeks old, my mum and I decided to go out for a coffee, mostly to get out of the house and for a change of scenery. We arrived and parked, got her pram out, loaded her in and set off through the town to our favourite coffee shop. When we got there though, I stood staring through the door and knew that we wouldn’t be going in there. In fact, looking through the windows of all the coffee shops in our town (there are literally hundreds – all we have is cafes and charity shops!!) as we passed, I knew that we wouldn’t be going into any of them…

You’ve probably guessed by now, but the reason we couldn’t go in is because there was no accessibility for us at all. There wasn’t a problem with ramps or steps, no it was the coffee shops themselves that were the problem. Granted they were all quite busy but even if they had been empty, there would have been no way I could have taken the pram into any of them. There was simply no room for me to maneuver the pram once through the door – to be honest each and every one of the cafes would have had me worrying about whether or not I could suck my arse in let alone squeeze a pram through. We actually ended up going back to the car and heading home because we were both feeling quite fed up about the whole situation.

It got me thinking – if I couldn’t get through with a pram, then neither could any other mother with a baby not being carried. Not only that, I am pretty sure that any person requiring a wheelchair or even an elderly person not quite so nimble would surely have issues too – and this is just in my home town which actually does have a majority of “older generation” residents. What about when we go on holiday? What about when they go on holiday? I’m wondering if accessibility will always be a problem – to be honest I have enough problem trying to change Alyssa when we are out and about as so many baby change facilities do not have enough room for me to wheel in a pushchair too. As these are often simply a board in a disabled toilet I wonder if other users of said facilities have the same problem as I cannot imagine I am the only one?!

We went to stay with a cousin of ours not so long ago, my mum, Alyssa and I and she had recently had a new walk-in shower and wet room done and it was brilliant! I was able to take Alyssa in and my mum said how brilliant it was on her knees (we all have problems with weak knees) and so I think if we do go on holiday next year it might be an idea to look for somewhere that has bathrooms like this to make things easier for both my mum and Alyssa. I know for a fact that Premier Care has written a post on their site about the “Top Ten Accessible Cities to Visit” and there are definitely a few places on that list that I would love to take Alyssa too – Australia and America to name just two!

Have you ever had problems taking your little ones out and had to think twice? Luckily, now Alyssa can walk I can actually take her out without the pushchair, although not far because otherwise she’d get too tired. However, I will definitely have to plan carefully when we choose to go on holiday but a little less so if I use Premier Care’s great advice.

This is a collaborative post – all thoughts are my own