You Pinspire Me
My son was 8 months old the first time we really dealt with fall time change. I tried to prep him – we moved back his bed time every night for a week… we darkened the windows in his room… we threw in an extra prayer before bed…. However, that STUPID night when we fell back, he woke up at 4:30 AM. FOR TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT. This was three years ago and I still get uptight thinking about it (can you tell?).
At least he was happy at that hour!!
I would like someone to explain to me why Day Light Savings still exists. Why is this archaic ritual still enacted every single year? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but not many of us are farmers anymore – so…. we don’t really need the extra day light for plowing our fields. Also – the plan was, apparently, to save people money (Get it? Day Light SAVINGS?) – just go to bed when it gets dark & your electricity bill will be SO CHEAP! Again – I feel the need to point out that these power companies, by placing us on Time of Use billing, are now saying “Please stay up until 11pm to do your laundry, since it costs 1/3 of the price in the middle of the night as it does during civilized hours! And while you’re at it, why don’t you turn on your lights and watch TV, too? USE ALL THE ELECTRICITY!”
Ranting aside, we finally had a break through this year. The Sunday morning of the fall-back time change, my children slept until their normal time – ie, they both slept in an hour. When does that happen?? CONVINCED that they were going to have me up at some ungodly hour, I actually went to bed at a decent time meaning that I got way more sleep than I typically do! How did we make this magic happen?
Here is my 4-Step No-Fail guide for getting your toddlers through time change unfazed:
1. Start with a Cold. Ideally, the kids would be in the throes of the cold – it needs to be fairly well settled in their chest, sinus, & head to sufficiently exhaust them. This cold will have kept them from sleeping well for a few nights by the time the auspicious night arrives.
2. Follow with Halloween the night before Time Change. It goes without saying that the kids will be hyped up all day on Halloween, gorge themselves with candies & chocolate, and then stay up 3 hours past their bedtime. This is all part of the plan.
3. Skip the naps the afternoon before Time Change, but it works best if you try your best to put them down for their naps and they flatly refuse, after much fanfare, to even close their eyes.
4. Ignore bedtime the night that time changes. Just sail RIGHT through bedtime. Eat supper late, maybe – then have baths. Read 8 books. Have a somersault contest, do some family yoga. When you’re at least an hour and a half past bed time, take out one last book, then ship them off to bed.
With any luck, your kids’ systems will be so confused that they won’t know which time zone they’re in, let alone whether the clock is falling back or springing forward.
Happy sleeping! Or… if it doesn’t go well, buy shares in Starbucks & sign this petition to End Day Light Savings Time in Canada. Actually, scratch that – sign the petition, regardless. Sleep deprived parents of infants and toddlers everywhere thank you.
Jenn vanOosten
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Isn’t it funny how all of the worst possibly moments seem to stack up around daylight savings? I’m happy you got the extra rest! At our house, they got up at 5 am.
I have one kid who’s adapted well to the time change and one kid who’s up till 11pm every night now because he hates me. I hate time changes.
Ha! I can so relate to this. When my kids were little I would “try” to prep them a week in advance as well. It never worked.
Wow. I never thought of this part of daylight savings time. (In all honesty, whenever I think of daylight savings time, the scene from Hokus Pokus inevitably comes to mind where the guy shines the car lights at the witches and they all think they are dying from the sun.)
Glad to hear that you got some extra sleep that night though!