Dear Drivers at Walmart

Before you pull into the Walmart parking lot, please stop and think.

This is a family-friendly store with the "low price" promise, which means cash-strapped mothers of young children are going to be shopping there.

It is a parking lot. This means you should drive slowly and look for people.

Yes, getting a good spot is a great idea, but it does not mean that you have to drive like you are in the Indianapolis 500.

When a minivan has its doors open, chances are there are little people climbing out. Please, notice minivans with doors open. These vehicles were designed for parents who are carting around small people. If the doors are open, pull around the van slowly, with your eyes open for small people. No one is going to pull into the parking space while you are trying to do so.

If you inadvertently almost run over a small child, scaring the living daylights out of her mom who was on the other side unstrapping the other small child in the family, "sorry about that, she's just so little I didn't see her," is probably going to fall flat with the mom.

Although, I'm not really sure what you should say, so perhaps that was a good try, but let's put a little more feeling into it. Had you swung around a second later, you might have seriously hurt or killed said small child.

People, it's a parking lot, with minivans, and small people. Please, drive cautiously.

There is no gold medal for being the first one to that parking space.

Signed,

Mom Whose Heart Has Just Stopped Racing

*(Yes, this did happen to me today. I am thanking the Lord for keeping His hand of protection on my little girl. I am not exaggerating when I say that the car almost hit her.)

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