Leave My Daylight Alone.

(image credit: dknucklesstock.deviantart.com)

 

I’m really over this messing with the clock nonsense. And, since I’m over it, it’s time for it to stop.

When I was a kid, I had a friend who had a sleepover on the weekend of the change. We loved getting an extra hour at her party. Messing with the clocks was a good thing.

In my late teens and twenties, I loved the extra hour. I’d get up at my regular Sunday morning time just slightly more rested. Messing with the clocks was a good thing.

But then in my thirties I had a baby and messing with the clocks turned into the dumbest thing ever.

It’s not news that we are a household of disrupted sleepers. My husband has battled insomnia most of his life. I haven’t had a full night of sleep since early May 2006 when I first started feeling pregnancy symptoms. My son, now almost seven, has slept through the night about three times. If that. It’s multi-generational insomnia at its best!

My son gets up when he gets up, clocks be damned. If his body is done sleeping, there is no getting him back to it. So for a kid who rises before the sun most days, gaining an extra hour from two to three a.m. does not help me. Instead of getting up at six, he’s up at five. During the years he was getting up at five, he was up at four. Let’s not talk about when he was routinely up at four, ok?

Now, that day when we lose the hour, that I can get behind. I don’t sleep anyway, so I don’t really care about losing any time. What’s one more hour? When my son wakes up on a Sunday morning and it’s already seven, well, happy day! Rejoice!

The thing is, the gaining and losing don’t really feel like an even trade and so I’m willing to give it all up for the sake of consistency. I realize the original intention was to have extra light for field work and the like, but now it seems like an antiquated notion. And you can’t convince me that something is vital when you go and move the date until after Halloween just so kids have more daylight for Trick Or Treating.

Last night, Nathan went to sleep at his normal time, about seven-thirty. He woke up around three and couldn’t go back to sleep. I hadn’t changed his clock, intending to do it in the morning, so he thought it was later than it was. And when he was still up an hour later, which really should have been almost five but was still only four, I was exhausted, thoroughly confused, and more than a little ready for him to go back to sleep.

Sometimes when he’s up at five, I’ll let him sit in his room with the light on with a book or just sitting, but basically giving him permission to stop trying to sleep. I don’t allow that at almost four though, because that would be insane. I’m trying to manage his messed up sleep, not create a kid who is up all day and night.

When he asked for the light, I had to tell him it wasn’t even four. He looked at his clock and I had to break the bad news that I hadn’t turned it back yet (mental note for next year!), and he sobbed. WHY!? I’ll never sleep again! This night is going to last forever!! We’ve all been there. As I rubbed his back and assured him the night would eventually end, in my head, I was feeling exactly what he was.

But the night didn’t last forever, just one (very long) hour longer. He finally fell back to sleep, which means I did too. But because we both fell asleep around 4:30, we woke up later than we normally do and I now feel like I’m behind an hour. Go figure.

Therefore, in conclusion, Daylight Saving Time is stupid.

This is NaBloPoMo Day 3. You can read more posts here.

35 thoughts on “Leave My Daylight Alone.

  1. Stacie

    Sending you a virtual latte or 5!! I hate it that it’ll be dark at 430 soon. We should just stay on daylight savings year round.

  2. cynkingfeeling

    I have no idea how the time change is going to affect Philip. I always think it’s going to make things easier, but that never happens. I guess hope springs eternal.

    1. michellelongo Post author

      I used to try to put him to bed early or later or whatever, but I just gave up. We just do what we do and hope for the best. It took me 5 years but I gave up trying to fix his sleep.

  3. Ken

    You know, just because the clock says so, there isn’t really an additional hour in the field. I just work until it gets dark anyways. 🙂

  4. deborah quinn

    The thing is, some states (Indiana, for one) seem to have the whole daylight savings time thing as optional–which is to say, they don’t do it. So why can’t everyone quit? I mean, really? There was a clock in our old apartment, on the stove, that we couldn’t ever re-set, so for however many months a year, it was just an hour off.

    1. michellelongo Post author

      None of our clocks are the same and I’m too lazy to change any of them when I’m supposed to, so really no one has any idea what time it is. That’s why my phone is always in my hand. If it’s not, I’m lost. I’m really curious how Indiana got out of this. Maybe I’ll move there…

  5. alisasibrova

    Some of the countries, for example Russia, already cancelled daylight saving time, so maybe US have some hope as well 🙂 As for personal opinion – I never really felt time changing factor and its effect on me, I am really easy with jet lags as well.

    1. michellelongo Post author

      We aren’t good with jet lag in this house either. I hadn’t thought to connect them, but you’re right, they are essentially the same thing. Thanks for reading and commenting!

    1. michellelongo Post author

      Right? And I feel like people think that the only thing I think about is sleep, which is totally not true. I also think about coffee which I need because I don’t sleep.

  6. Andrea @ Maybe It's Just Me

    When I was having more sleep issues, I remember dreading bedtime…why look forward to something that wasn’t going to be joyful slumber…I have to admit that I was kind of over sending the kids to the busstop at 6:30 in complete darkness though

    1. michellelongo Post author

      I always look forward to sleeping, even if it’s only for a few hours. I can usually count on at least 9:30-12 to be restful.

  7. mistyslaws

    When mine were babies, it was hell losing that hour, because their little bodies could not tell time. Now that they are older, I make sure to change the clocks and they know not to “get up” (i.e. come wake us up) until a certain time. But that’s the joy of having older kids. I’m sorry that your little guy is so sleep averse. I agree with your conclusion. Let’s do away with this whole stupid thing!

    1. michellelongo Post author

      He’s usually good about waiting until 6 to wake me up, but that’s when he gets up at 5:30. If he gets up at 4:30, somehow he can’t hold it together.

  8. ReallyGina1 (@ReallyGina1)

    I’m not a fan. Sleep, smeep! Overrated anyway! That’s coming from a very jealous of anyone who can non-sleeper of course.

    Yeah, I kinda hate (love) that your loosey goosey, no pressure, stream writing is better than stuff I toil over for hours!

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