I was led to this short clip by my friend Dave, by way of our mutual friend Heather, and it encapsulated all that I have been wordlessly feeling lo, these many years re: Daylight Savings Time.
The thing that bugs me the most? When people without kids say, “But you got that whole extra hour of sleep on Sunday!” As if.
What really happened: my children woke up at their USUAL TIME, except hey! it’s really AN HOUR EARLY! And now it’s FIVE A.M. and we’re having a party in mom’s bed! Whoo-hoo! Hey, Mom? Hey, Mom? Hey, Moooooooooom?? And there is something in me that simply will not permit myself to plug my children in front of the television at five o’clock in the morning as if it’s totally OK. Can’t do it. And yet: they wouldn’t go back to bed, either. And now we’re all suffering from on-going sleep deprivation, with zero benefits, as far as I can tell.
That dude in the video, the one who came up with the idea?* I don’t think he was the primary care-giver to his children. Because if he was, this time-change experiment would have lasted a single year and then have been forgotten.
I’m still recovering. Excuse me while I pout. Le sigh.
*Did anyone else grow up thinking it was Ben Franklin who invented Daylight Savings Time? Anyone have a good link on that, because I was sure that’s what they told me in third grade. Of course, I was probably sleep-deprived then, too.
Rennai
November 7, 2011 at 5:28 pmI love daylight savings time. I started waking up at 6.30am the week before it started and was happy for it to change to 7.30am. It doesn’t seam to matter what the time is I always have to wake my girls up. I love the extra time to swim in the pool and water the veggie patch in daylight. My Mum always love to say her only complaint was daylight savings faded the curtains an actual argument used in Australia against daylight sayings.
Deborah
November 8, 2011 at 10:06 pmI so wish I felt the same way… But my children are like little human alarm clocks and wake up/get hungry/get tired at the exact same time each day, no matter what the clocks read. I would love to have an extra hour to water the garden! Jealous! 🙂
jamie
November 7, 2011 at 6:00 pmDefinitely, but thought it was Thomas Jefferson and told everyone so at work today. Something to do with crops.
Deborah
November 8, 2011 at 10:07 pmI thought it was something about how if we didn’t, we’d all be getting up in the middle of the night to go to school? Isn’t it funny how the story gets turned around! 🙂
Deborah G
November 7, 2011 at 6:01 pmHee, hee. Deborah you make me giggle. Yes, I remember being taught that Daylight savings time was Franklin’s idea and he wasn’t even living in America at the time the idea came to him!
Deborah
November 8, 2011 at 10:07 pmI don’t think they’ll ever give it up. But a girl can dare to dream! Will have to get you down to the shop to make some pants, once those patterns get back from the graders. 🙂
Deborah
November 9, 2011 at 12:31 pmLooking forward to it! (making the pants, not daylight savings time 🙂 )
two.hippos
November 7, 2011 at 7:05 pmSorry to disappoint, but Daylight Savings Time came out of WWI and efforts to conserve fuel, “Winter time” was what it had been and they jumped the clocks ahead in late winter to allow businesses/factories/etc more of a work day with natural light. After the war ended, it was observed only in a few states. In WWII, it was brought back and then became more permanent in the 1970s (w/a couple of exceptions). The transportation industry lobbied for standardization across the US in order to keep shipping/trucking more uniform….
Deborah
November 8, 2011 at 10:08 pmSee? I’m learning a ton! Except I still want to just leave the clocks alone–it’s like when you order coffee and get the sugar/cream ratio just the way you like it, and the waitress comes along and adds more coffee. Just when we get our kids on a schedule that works great for our family, BAM! Clocks change. Argh!
Kelly
November 7, 2011 at 10:12 pmThanks for the laugh…I needed it! Too funny, and SO TRUE!
Deborah
November 8, 2011 at 10:09 pmGlad I could help. Am sure it will be funnier to me once I get some shut-eye! Ha!
April Forshee
November 7, 2011 at 10:19 pmI’m so with you. Sooooo with you.
Deborah
November 8, 2011 at 10:09 pmGod bless you, woman. Now let’s both go get some rest!
Carrie
November 8, 2011 at 12:23 pmWhile it’s nice to feel a little ahead all day (oh look – it’s only noon), it’s totally ruined by the daze I’m in from the baby getting up at 5AM every day. How do we get them back on schedule?
Deborah
November 8, 2011 at 10:10 pmUgh. We hated that first morning, but then kept them up just a little past their usual bedtime ON THE CLOCK the next night, so they were wasted tired. Seems to have done OK–just not letting them sleep right when they’re tired, but making them join the rest of us. It wasn’t fun, but seems to have done the trick! Good luck!
Heather
November 8, 2011 at 10:01 pmI’m hungry, will you make me breakfast? Let me go wake up my sister! Yes! Now we are both in here whining and driving you crazy!
I am still recovering and seemed to have *lost* the hour everyone else gained. I feel like I have jet-lag. Time for bed!
Deborah
November 8, 2011 at 10:12 pmI know, exactly! But the only way to make it, just like jet-lag, is to power through, despite your fatigue. Seems so unfair. Bless those babies–I think it’s their tummies that make them do it. If mine weren’t so hungry every morning (despite huge suppers every night), they’d sleep until 7, easy. But they get to starving around 5:45 or 6, and we’re ALL up. Yeesh!
Good luck, get some rest!
Jessica E
November 9, 2011 at 6:10 pmThis post has been so informative!! I totally thought it was some former president creating it, having something to do with harvesting crops….
Anyway, the thing that really gets me is that NOT ALL STATES PARTICIPATE! It just blows my mind..like entering that state you will be in some kind of time warp…