This weekend, we spring ahead and to me, that’s always been a sign of summer. I love having longer days and more light at the end of the day. However, after becoming a parent I’ve personally (as I’m sure all of you have too) seen the downside of “Spring Forward”. The part that’s not about the extra daylight, but about sleep interruptions, the dreaded early wake-up, and the overall question of how will this time change effect him or her.
This week, whether it be in March or October, I always find myself reading articles about the time change and what I can do to hopefully make the time change easier on Isabelle. Here is some of what I found this week that stuck out to me:
Wear Them Out: On Sunday and Monday, make sure your days are busy and filled with lots of activities. This will hopefully get your kids ready for their “normal” bedtime.
Shift the Schedule: I have to admit I’ve never been organized enough to pull this one off. It’s something I see over and over again and for those who I know use this tactic, it seems to work really well. A few days before the start of Daylight Savings, adjust bedtimes gradually by 15 minutes earlier or so.
Wake Up at the Same Time: This is the hardest thing for me to follow, but makes a lot of sense. If you wake up at 6:30AM every day and your child(ren) wake up at 7AM, stick to that even though you know you’ve lost an hour of sleep. This helps you all get back on track more quickly.
Short Nap in the Early Afternoon: If your child is older, consider encouraging him or her to nap for a bit on Sunday. Also a great idea for parents to take advantage of this too.
And although those few days after a time change can be rough, the best piece of advice I’ve read has been that eventually everyone figures out the new time and falls back on schedule.
For additional reading, here are the articles the above references:
The Today Show
The Very Well Family
Pop Sugar