At some point in the next couple of days, a cheerful radio presenter or a helpful shop cashier will remind you to turn your clocks back this weekend. And if you have young kids, you will want to punch them in the face.
My main problem with the end of Daylight Saving Time is that it usually arrives with little warning. At most, I have a 72-hour advance notice that it’s coming. There is often confusion amongst the masses, with people saying, “This is the first I’ve heard of it. Are you sure it’s this weekend?” Or maybe that is just in my little world, it always seems a last minuet reminder.
I ask that question with a look of panic and desperation in my eyes, because nothing is designed to screw with us more than changing the clocks. We spend weeks — sometimes even months — trying to meticulously get E on a sleep pattern that works for everyone in the house. And then, the government just rolls into our house, flips the clocks back one hour and destroys everything we’ve done.
Like a lot of parents, we wrestle with the fact that we have a child waking at 6:30 -7.30 am or earlier. On a daily basis. However, in days following the end of Daylight Saving Time, we now have a child bursting into the room at 5.30 -6 am. It’s pure hell for everyone in the house, because there is nothing to do at that time of the morning.
And that first Sunday when I flip the clock back it feels like the day that will never end. I look at my watch and realize it’s only 3:30 p.m. Of course I double-check to make sure I have updated the time on my watch because there is always the obligatory “Did-I-change-this-clock-already?” second-guessing that goes through my mind.
Many people give advice on helping children adjust to daylight saving, by moving your day back a little, keeping them up a little longer over a five-day period. However this advice is of no use to me as I always realise when its a couple of days away. Even if I did put E to bed later she would still wake the same time in the morning just like clockwork!
I like and need my sleep but knowing that I have some early mornings ahead of me doesn’t install me with excitement and to make things worse my husband is working away so I have to deal with it all myself. I can only hope that E adjusts to it really well this time…
Just in case you didn’t notice, I really hate the clocks changing.
