5 Tips to Save Your Sanity During Daylight Savings Weekend

Spring is a pretty awesome time of the year, isn’t it? Flowers start to bloom, warmer weather is on the horizon, and the sun finally starts to say “hi” and smile. But in order to enjoy all the beautiful bounties that the springtime provides, we must reluctantly suffer through daylight savings.

Friends, if you haven’t already realized, let me remind you it’s daylight savings weekend. Sigh, I know. As a parent to four little kids with insane internal clocks, I totally feel your pain. For years now, I’ve tried various tricks and methods to easy through the weekend. Some have worked well, and some haven’t. But here are a few I stick to every year…

5 tips for surviving daylight savings with small children:

Get plenty of fresh air

What makes kids (and adults too) extra tucked out? Tons of activity, coupled with a healthy dose of fresh air! On Saturday,try going to the park or running around outside. The crisp fresh air will hopefully prepare everyone for their adjusted new bedtime.

Start the new time schedule ASAP

Don’t wait until Sunday to start the new schedule. Try the best you can to easy into the new change during the day Saturday instead. By giving the family a little extra time to adjust on the weekend, hopefully by Monday morning (when everyone needs to go to work and school) everyone will be that much more in tune with the change.

Stick to the new schedule on Sunday

Do your best to embrace the new time and stick to the adjusted schedule. It will feel like you’re pushing the envelope with nap and bedtimes, but I promise a few rough days will be worth it in the end!

Remember, every child is different

And at the end of the day (pun intended), every child will react in his or her own way. Internal clocks are tricky to manipulate, and the best advice I can offer is to not stress.

Act the part

Once the change has officially taken place, start the bedtime routine per the new time, even if your child doesn’t appear tired. Give them a calming bath, get pajamas on, and read a bedtime story. Basically, fake it till ya make it!

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