'I parked in a parenting spot, then I received a cruel fat-shaming note'

"I hope whoever wrote this is ashamed of themselves. It's a cheap, low blow," the 'thick-skinned' mum said.

A new mum was left on the brink of tears after being the target of cruel fat-shaming remarks after she rightfully left her car in an allocated parent-and-child space.

 

Paige Murray parked in the parent-and-child spot and then popped into her local supermarket with her three-month-old son, Daniel, before going out for lunch with her in-laws.

Upon returning to the car park with her child, she saw a note on her car and, at first, thought it was to inform her that someone had hit her car.

"I immediately thought the worst," she admitted.

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Image: Kennedy News and Media

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The cruel fat-shaming note

She then looked on in horror as she read the handwritten scrap of paper placed on her windshield for all to see. 

"No children were in this car. Lazy fat b*astards," the note, which left her "fuming", read.

Image: Kennedy News and Media

"I remember thinking, 'Oh, there definitely was a child in this car because I birthed him'," she told the press.

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Paige thinks that the writer may have misunderstood the situation when they saw her pulling into the spot and somehow missed the 10-minute effort it took to take Daniel out of the car and strap him into his harness.

"It wasn't really a busy time being Wednesday morning," she recalled. following the debacle.

"I was being assisted by my mother-in-law and sister-in-law to get him out. We were there for a good ten minutes trying to get ourselves out. I didn't have a pram with me, I had a harness instead."

She added: "I don't have a baby-on-board sign up in the car, but there's a sun visor, and the car seat was in there, so you can physically see that it's occupied by a child."

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"Ashamed of themselves"

The self-coned "thick-skinned mama bear" has now decided to share the cruel note in hopes it reaches the "judgemental" person who wrote it and they will act differently in future.

Paige concluded, "I hope whoever wrote this note is ashamed of themselves. It's a cheap, low blow to call someone fat. Had it been someone who wasn't having a good day or perhaps someone that suffered from post-natal depression - maybe that would ruin their day."

"I understand it's frustrating when people use parent and child spaces when they're not able to use them, but I would never go out of my way to use derogatory terms because that could really ruin their day."

"I think it was a lapse of judgement clearly, but at the end of the day, I hope that whoever it was sees this and thinks in future."

This article was updated in August 2024.

Originally published as 'I parked in a parenting spot, then I received a cruel fat-shaming note'