I am a grandma and I this totally new to me a spacing space for expected mothers . I really don’t see the needs for it. I walked to the grocery store and carried my bag home . I wasn’t exhausted .
Just because you could doesn’t mean everyone could, or should. It’s a small gesture of kindness and often appreciated.
I know when I was very pregnant and was bringing a toddler shopping along with me after working a full day, a closer parking spot would have been welcome kindness.
Eh…yes and no. As a mom of 4 kids, the only benefit I could see for a close parking spot is, perhaps, an easier time remembering where you parked the car. I mean, you’ve certainly walked many times the length of the parking lot while you were shopping within the store, no?
Like, when my husband is cruising around, looking for a “better” spot, I just tell him to cut it out and park wherever, because it’s no more than an extra aisle length in the supermarket.
Now, if the designated parking spots for handicap, moms and kids were along the front sidewalk of the store, that would be nice since you wouldn’t have to do the equivalent of crossing a busy street. But that’s not usually the case.
That’s why I called it a small kindness and not a life changing event.
I susally park in the back of the lot too, but I promise you- after a full day of work and bringing a toddler to the store while really pregnant, yes saving a few steps would have been a relief to me. It’s a curtesy, not an obligation, so if I was feeling strong I wouldn’t have used it, but if I was wiped, I would’ve absolutely used it and been grateful.
Well, I can’t speak for the situation regarding pregnant women, though I am very happy to accept what Ivory Tower Denizen has said about the value of parking close by.
I will speak anecdotally about the handicapped parking issue, though. Yes, it might seem to those of us who are well able to walk that “an extra aisle length” in the supermarket is no big deal. Like you, I will park pretty much anywhere in the lot–the only time I care about being close to the store is when it’s pouring rain.
But my wife is chronically ill and has a lot of mobility issues. While she can walk, it is very tiring for her to do so. She can make it through a supermarket by using the cart as a prop, but it’s not easy. Yes, it would be wonderful if the spots were right next to the store, and sometimes they are. But when they’re not, having a handicap spot *near *the store DOES matter. Even if it only saves her an extra aisle length, it nonetheless makes a difference.
If she is making a solo trip (and this doesn’t happen all that often) to a store where the parking lot is likely to be crowded, she is prepared to say “Forget it, I can’t do it” if a handicap space is not available and none of the spaces nearby is empty either. She has come back home sometimes without shopping, especially on days when her various conditions are acting up, if none of the spots were close enough to the store entrance. Adding that extra aisle, or whatever the true extra distance, changes the equation from can-do to can’t-do, or at least not-worth-it-to-try.
Now. You might think that she’s exaggerating the difficulty. You might think she’s exaggerating the extra distance. You might think it’s all psychological, I don’t know. And I suppose you could be right.
But I see in her someone who is determined to do as much as she can despite the limitations of her conditions. And I’ve never experienced for any length of time what she goes through every time she tries to do something like this. So until such time as I have walked that proverbial mile in her shoes, I’m inclined to take her word for it that a close parking spot makes a big difference.
Hey, Ulf, I get ya. I’ve got early-onset arthritis and a host of other things in my late 30s that I never expected to deal with. For me, a parking spot is not a deal-breaker (we don’t have handicapped stickers regardless, since I’ve never applied or identified as such) but other things do apply, like, the gym that’s just 1.5 miles from me is too far to walk these days, and I don’t drive. 
So, I know, everyone is different. I was just saying that if decrepit me is up to making a big shopping trip, the parking spot is no big deal (inclement weather aside). Because I’m more likely to have crossed that distance multiple times just figuring out whatever the new store layout at Meijer’s is that month. 
(Missed edit window)
I’m in pretty bad pain just walking across my living room to the bathroom, so shopping is always an ordeal. But everything is relative. If I’ve made it that far to traverse a supermarket, then walking across a parking lot is really no more added pain than what I would do ordinarily in an average day, and I know I’ve got to do it to get outta there. 
Hope that makes sense.
And no, I don’t think your wife is exaggerating as such. I have similar “stopping points” for me (like bringing items up and down stairs) that seem trivial to others.
The only store where I’ve really seen Expecting Mothers parking spaces is at Babies R Us. And that’s a store that actually has many pregnant women customers, and probably tries to cater to them.
Two pregnant women? Parking? Just sayin’.