Monday, March 9, 2015

Who Do I Speak To About Opting Out of Daylight Savings Time?

Who Do I Speak To About Opting Out of Daylight Savings Time? -- from the kids jumping on the beds yelling "We're not tired yet!" to dragging them out of their exhaustion-induced comas for school on Monday morning, Daylight Savings Time is pretty much the worst.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Yesterday was the beginning of Daylight Savings Time  or as I call it, National "Be an Hour Late to Church" Day.

As a parent, when I see Daylight Savings Time coming up on my calendar, my soul wails "Oh, the humanity!" like Herbert Morrison witnessing the Hindenburg bursting into flames.

Call me melodramatic, but it's pretty inhumane to subject already sleep-deprived parents to this horror show twice a year.

Whether it's "springing forward" or "falling back," we lose at least an hour of sleep and have cranky children for a week afterward while they adjust. 

This time around, it went exactly as expected. We put kids to bed who weren't tired yet on Saturday night, took slightly groggy children to church on Sunday, and did everything short of a voodoo ceremony to drag them out of bed for school this morning.

And I couldn't blame them, I felt the same way.

Many parents who are more on top of things than I am gradually start "breaking in" their kids a week in advance, adjusting their bedtime by 10 minutes every night.

Who Do I Speak To About Opting Out of Daylight Savings Time? -- from the kids jumping on the beds yelling "We're not tired yet!" to dragging them out of their exhaustion-induced comas for school on Monday morning, Daylight Savings Time is pretty much the worst.  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Truer words were never spoken.
It sounds lovely to never have a hitch in your tranquil life because of your superior skills in planning ahead, but since I can barely maintain enough foresight to get the laundry from the washing machine into the dryer before it starts to smell, this obviously isn't going to happen in our house.

I don't know who's in charge of time changes, but sometimes I picture approaching the paunchy, slightly balding Daylight Savings Commissioner (I made him up for visualization purposes,) and asking him why.

Not "why" as in an honest inquiry, but as an impassioned plea for this insanity to end.

I've heard that Daylight Savings Time originally had something to do with farming or conserving energy during WWII. But either way, we've got tractors with headlights now and the war's over, so it's pretty clear to me what needs to be done here.

Until the Commissioner starts to see some sense, I'll be busy compiling a list of countries that don't participate in Daylight Savings Time and researching real estate there. But really, I'll probably just end up taking a nap.


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12 comments:

Lisa @ Naptime Chai said...

I love having the extra hour of sunlight at night, but I am a bit fearful about what this time change will do to my little one! She's only 8 months old so she isn't really on a set schedule yet, but I have a feeling this isn't going to help since she was already going to bed and waking up later than I wanted her to! Also, I admire parents who can plan ahead for these types of 'events'... but I do not possess those organizational skills! -- Lisa | Two Martinis

Renee said...

I can so relate! I teach in a small Christian school that is 45 minutes away--so I leave pretty early in the morning. I was just starting to enjoy leaving for work in the sunshine & then DST hit! I left in the dark this morning & had to fight being grouchy. If you find that commissioner, give me his number :)

Thanks for brightening my day (see what I did there?) with this post & for visiting me at Doorkeeper last week. Blessings!

Letting Fear Go said...

LOL, My husband had to work Sunday, so I was all on my own to get me and our son to church. We were dressed and ready, but my son was SO cranky with his schedule being off. I tried to go twice and then just gave up and stayed home!

Finding Joy said...

Love it and as children we all got use to it and so did my children. My dad was a farmer and it allowed him to do extra work after the evening meal such as move the water irrigation .

Unknown said...

Hahaha this is perfectly written! I feel the same way -- this Daylight Savings business totally throws off my groove (see! I'm even reverting to 80's language! :P). Thanks for bringing laughter and smiles to an otherwise tiresome day!

Hugs!
Sarah

Jenny Evans said...

Phillip did say that he enjoyed driving home from work in daylight, so I guess I have to grudgingly admit that there is an upside to DST. Sort of.

Unknown said...

Many a time I have wondered why we perservere with what seems like such an out of date system (but particularly since having children!!). In the UK it doesn't happen til the end of March so thanks for the heads up, although having said that I am highly unlikely to be organised enough to plan those incrementally earlier bedtimes! Argh! Thanks for linking up to #thetruthabout again Jenny :-) X

Lisa @ Fun Money Finds said...

I agree...daylight savings time is so unnecessary! I think what annoys me the most is having to change the clock in my car. By the time six months has gone by, I've forgotten how to do it and have to figure it out all over again...LOL

Jenny Evans said...

That's so funny. It takes me about 6 months to get the last clock in my house changed to the right time.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for writing about the time change. I knew you would come up with something :) I don't understand the benefit of it all now. If we never spring ahead or fall back, time would stay the same. Is that a bad thing?

xxx

Anonymous said...

They don't observe daylight savings time in Arizona. Much shorter move!

Jenny Evans said...

Why we can't all follow your state's example, I will never know.