Kids And Daylight Savings Don’t Mix

Growing up in Saskatchewan, my parents had the joy of never having to deal with Daylight Savings. I say them, because it would have been me they were dealing with for early bedtimes. As a parent there is one thing I dream about one day returning, but for now that dream is a far off place in a mystical land. I'm sure you've guessed it – Sleep.

The time change is just around the corner, bringing with it the task of "springing forward" all of our clocks, and readjusting our kids to their much needed sleep schedules. Again. A personal favourite from our son at this time of year is his logic of "I can't go to bed, the sun is still out". Practically we remind him that we are getting extra daylight from everything being an hour ahead, and that it also means spring is soon on its way. So really, let's all just bust out the pina coladas tonight to celebrate summer being that much closer. This is Canada, so savour any non-snowy weather you can get!

Children and Daylight Savings just don't mix. Take exhibit A in our home: The Sleep Striker. At 19 months old she has been showing some great sleep improvement, until three days ago. There must be something inside babies and kids bodies that knows that this time jump is around the corner. For the past three days she has been up at 5am ready to party, tiptoeing into our room and peeking under our covers with a too energetic "hewwo!". At this point, we are strongly regretting having her in the big-girl bed. Why didn't we realize that the time change was around the corner, and that we would need to have her in a contained space where she couldn't poke us in the eyes at such an ungodly hour? Why can't internal clocks have snooze buttons?!

There are three days left until we spring forward, and I'm raising my cup of coffee in salute to all mothers (and father's) who are about to embark on the journey with us. Silver lining? Spring really is just around the corner.