How to manage "Spring Forward" with 2 kids?
We had a heck of a time with the "Fall back" transition to Standard Time. Everyone in our house was waking up at 5am and being wide awake.
Now, with the transition back to Daylight Savings Time, I think we'll be in better shape, since the kids will be getting up "later" not "earlier" in the new scheme.
But, maybe this means that normal dinner time and bedtime will be hard for a couple of days, as they're usually pretty hungry and restless by 6pm, and that'll be 5pm after the transition.
Do you have any hints for easing the transition?
3 Answers
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Just as anonymous says, some similar good ideas at Parenting.com - they say that clock changes are harder on kids than jet lag because the light cues stay what they were the day before:
Begin shifting your child's bedtime a day -- or, better yet, several days -- before the time change. If she usually goes down at 8:00, for example, have her under the covers by 7:45 the first night and 7:30 the next. "It's a small enough change that she should still be able to fall asleep, and it will help make it less of a shock on Sunday night," Mindell says.
Stick to your current daytime routine. Once the time change occurs, continue to have your child's meals, snacks, naps, bedtimes, everything, at the same time as usual, Mindell says.
Expose your child to bright light first thing in the morning (the indoor kind works) to reprogram her internal clock faster.
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We wanted to try the 15 minutes per day method but of course it didn't happen... But for some reason our kids didn't nap last Sunday (the day of the time change) and they were so tired in the evening that they went to bed early and slept until a very reasonable hour. Brutal, but it worked!
campaign for ending time changes ?
- Suzanne, Mar 3, 2010