Daylight Saving Time:: It’s the Most Horrible Time of the Year

daylight savings
© by Iryna Imago from Getty Images for Canva

It’s time to change your clocks!

Spring forward or fall back: It doesn’t matter which season it is; it makes for very confused kids and unhappy mamas when the time changes. 

(Perhaps I’m a little dramatic and egocentric, but let’s pause and think about it for a second.)

Pick a mom. Any mom. Imagine yourself. Whether in the baby, toddler, or teenage stage of motherhood (or perhaps all three!), a good night’s sleep is hard to come by. This is true not only for moms but for lots of Americans! But even with the lack of sleep, your body is used to the hour-upon-hour duties moms perform every day: 

Change diapers. 

Do the laundry. 

Feed the children. (Because, yes, they need to be fed every day!)

Then, out of nowhere, you have to readjust to an extra hour–or you lose an hour completely! No one else in your household is going to adjust. It’s your responsibility to change the clocks, wake your children an hour earlier (or get up when they wake you an hour earlier), and rush everyone to wherever they need to be (because you know whether you lose or gain an hour, you’re going to be late getting out the door). 

It’s the looking-at-the-clock-a-million-times-a-day that has me wondering what time is it and when can we START our bedtime routine?

But this doesn’t just happen for one day. Oh, no! The struggle happens ALL WEEK LONG! Like jetlag, it takes a few days for our bodies to acclimate to the change. 

Did you know that people are more likely to get into car accidents or have a heart attack during the daylight saving shift?  

That extra hour to move sunlight from the morning to the evening complicates many people’s lives. Although the idea is nice, do we really need that extra hour? What if we didn’t change the time?

(Now remember, we aren’t actually changing the amount of sunlight we receive. We’re just CHANGING the time of when we receive it. We can’t change the sundials.) 

The earliest summer sunrise in Omaha is between 5:30 and 6 a.m. If we didn’t change our clocks, that would mean a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call. 

Now that could be a pretty early morning if you have a little one who rises with the sun! 

Who should we thank for Daylight Saving Time?

According to National Geographic, several people came up with the idea independently; however, my favorite story comes from George Hudson. It goes like this:

Once upon a time, in 1895, there was an entomologist who thought, “I’d like to have a couple of extra hours for bug hunting. What if we moved the clock two hours forward in the summer and then moved it back in the winter?”  

Hm. 

Does Daylight Saving Time still work for lifestyles today?

Today we have electricity. We have varied schedules. Most people don’t work 9-5. They have night shifts or day shifts. We have phones where we are available 24 hours a day. 

Many countries around the world don’t observe Daylight Saving Time.

Do we really need to make our lives harder by telling our internal clocks that it’s wrong? Our internal clocks are generally messed up anyway (especially moms!). 

So for mothers far and wide, I’m standing up. I refuse to participate in Daylight Saving Time! 

Okay, just kidding. (I remember the 4:30 a.m. wake-up call!)

But, seriously, moms, here’s to you—stock up on your chocolate and coffee (and your kids’ favorite snacks for bribing). Implement your healthy sleeping habits now! 

If anything, 2020 has shown mamas how strong we are.

Every year I dread the change, but this year I will embrace it. 

(Especially since we get an extra hour of sleep during this season.)

Bring on the end of Daylight Saving Time and all the turmoil it brings.

Ashley Shannon
ASHLEY C. SHANNON is a wife, mother, and adventure curator. After living in the coastal South for many years, she's back to her Midwest roots, where she's excited to explore Omaha and paint her experience of motherhood with words. You can find her on IG @Ashley_C_Shannon