I used to love falling back. While I’m not a fan of changing the time in general (we would keep DST all year if I had my way), and I HATE when it gets dark so early, I always loved gaining an hour in the fall. Who doesn’t love more time?
I learned the answer to that when I had kids. Not only did falling back an hour totally fuck with my kids already erratic sleep schedules, and warped a decent 6:30 or 7am wake-up into a way-too early 5:30 or 6am wake-up, but it added an hour to the weekend! Which meant one more hour I had to kill with my kids, in an already interminable day.
I know that is not how parents are supposed to feel, but for the last seven years it’s basically been my attitude. Falling back sucked not just because it made the afternoons and evenings darker, but also because it created a really, really long day.
I’m happy to report that now, with kids that are 7.5 and 4, I don’t hate falling back so much. I was hating it this morning, on minute 40 of a really long meltdown, when the day felt like it would never be over, but two hours later, when we’d pulled it together and made it to the Academy of Sciences during the coveted Member’s Hour, I was pretty stoked.
And sure I really messed up napping time, thinking that I should push it to 2pm because 2pm was really 1pm (nope, it was really 3pm), but in the end it all worked out. We had fun at the aquarium, made it to Girl Scouts early for the first time, and enjoyed a family movie night. It’s just another reminder that parenthood is getting easier, at least in some respects, slowly but surely. This post gives me hope that things might continue in that direction.
What do you like about falling back? What makes you hate it?
Ha! Lucky lady. Harvey was in my bedroom at 5am today. Yay….
I’m glad your kids are starting to make it easier on you in that department!
Yes, I used to LOVE falling back. Today the kids were up by 6:10 (old 7:10, but still..). At least with this time change, they’re extra tired at bedtime and we can erase some of the creep that happens (bedtime sliding later).
I need a lot of sleep and am the ultimate anti-morning person, so I have always loved falling back. But yes, weekends may feel long even without the extra hour. This year we were on a trip with my husband though, so we got an extra hour in Rome, and grandparents got an extra hour with kids 🙂
I hate how it gets dark so early now, and I hate that it feels like it’s the beginning of winter. But I loved my extra hour of sleep (daughter slept, son got up but didn’t wake me). And I loved that last night, the kids were ready for bed when the clock said 1/2 earlier than their bedtime. We got ready and then had extra time to read. I also loved that it was easier to get up this morning because it felt an hour later.
I’m like you. Loved Fallback most of my life. Hated it when my kids were little. Roll with it now. I actually spent that extra hour doing something for myself.