Six years ago was the last time I truly enjoyed falling back with the time change. Six years ago, I was pregnant with my first child and had absolutely no idea just how drastically my life would change on December 26, 2006. I certainly had no inkling that my hatred for moving the clocks back an hour in the fall would make me crazy at times.
No, I was ignorant to such things. I LOVED falling back in November (and October, before it was changed). I had an extra hour in my weekend! It seemed to make the weekend move more slowly, and that was always a welcome perception. I usually had no trouble sleeping in, but if I did wake up early on that Sunday morning, I was happy to see it was an hour earlier and I had more time to sleep! When I sang at church, I could stay up an hour later and not wish I had gone to bed sooner the night before. I didn't understand why my coworkers who were also parents would groan about the time change. I mean, I understood it in March because we all had to give back that hour we had so luxuriously been given in November and I would spend the next week or so trying to adjust my body to losing that hour of sleep. But why was it such a big deal in the fall?
And then I had a child.
I still maintain that whomever created the concept of Daylight Savings Time was definitely not someone who was in charge of small children.
Anyone who is rearing a small child knows that the child's circadian rhythm does not CARE what the time on the clock says. If that child has been waking up at 6:30 in the morning prior to falling back and "gaining" an hour, that child will awaken at 5:30 in the morning. The fact that the clock rudely reads 5:30 AM makes no difference to the child. They'll be wide awake and READY TO PLAY! Or eat. Or watch TV. Or whatever it is that child likes to do when s/he first gets up in the morning. Bring on the coffee, I say!
So tonight at 7:30 when I was getting our 2 children ready for bed, I realized that putting them to bed at 7:30 was really like putting them to bed at 6:30 and they would likely be awake before 5 am. And once my kids are awake, convincing them that it's a good idea to go back to sleep is darn near impossible.
We ended up ordering pizza (thank you, Domino's for your gluten-free crust!) and letting them watch Mickey Mouse. We effectively moved their bedtime up an hour, so hopefully they will sleep just a little longer in the morning!
Bring on the coffee!
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