How to Manage the Time Change with Kids

“I hate the time change!” said every parent of a young child ever.

The switch to daylight savings can wreak such havoc on our kids’ sleep, and ours, it can make us all want to move to Saskatchewan. Or Arizona.

When the clocks spring ahead (in 2022 it’s Sunday, March 13), it can mean your kids won’t be tired until an hour after their usual bedtime, according to the clock.

If their normal bedtime is 7 p.m., after the time change they won’t be tired until the “new” 8 p.m.

But they still have to get up for daycare and school, and you for work the next day. That can mean each of you is missing an hour of sleep.

(That’s why the Monday after daylight savings starts we see the highest car-accident rate of any day of the year - sleep-deprived drivers lack focus and attention.)

So, the good news: you don’t have to move to Saskatchewan or Arizona, as lovely as both those places are.  Here is a simple method to help your child (and you) gradually adjust to the spring-ahead time change that will have you all waking up feeling, well, just normal-tired on Monday morning:

It starts the week before the time change….

Let’s say your baby’s or big-kids’ bedtime is 7:30.

On the Tuesday or Wednesday, put them to bed about 10 or 15 minutes earlier than usual. It’s a small enough amount that they likely won’t notice.

Repeat that shift a couple of nights later, and again on Saturday night.

When you ease bedtime back 10 or 15 minutes every second night, by the time Sunday night rolls around, your kids will be tucked in at the “new” 7:45 and you only have to adjust to a 15-minute time change on Monday morning.

It takes a little bit of military precision with the bedtime routine to make this strategy work, but that will only help your kids fall asleep more easily anyway.

And don’t forget – you have to get yourself to bed earlier too! That pitter-patter will be coming your way a bit sooner until we all spring ahead.