The dreaded clock change… a parents own version of hell

It’s officially the end of another years summer time and the clocks are due to fall back an hour! This Sunday 25th October in the UK clocks go back one hour at 2am.

For all the carefree people in the world, this means an extra hour in bed… but for my fellow parents, this simply means a whole new challenge at bedtime and being woken up at some ungodly hour by our beloved children!

Lets start with some history…why do the clocks turn back? Did a child grow up and decide it would be a fun way to torture their parents? I jest, the main reason is too make more use of the daylight. We change our clocks during summer months inorder to move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening thus by moving the clocks back now the morning will be lighter however evenings will be darker.

Now, many people have different methods to cope with this change. My child free friends never understand why this is a massive issue, they tell me to relax and let it play out. They obviously have never tried to reason with an overtired toddler at 11pm!

My tips to you are as follows:

Don’t try and simply move your childs bedtime to an hour earlier, they won’t be tired and you will exhaust yourself with the battle. Instead gradually move the bedtime by 15 minutes each night. Your child may naturally fall into the new routine (and if that’s the case, jackpot!).

You could add an extra bedtime story to your night-time routine. My DD loves when we do this, to make it fun we make up a story, each of us telling a sentence at a time using our imagination to build a story. This also allows your to spend extra downtime with your children which also encouraging their learning.

Another option is to allow them to stay up the extra hour and not start the bedtime routine until the “new” bedtime is due, now I am not a fan of this option. I tried this one year and it was a disaster, I ended up with 3 overtired and irate children. But hey, it may work for you.

If you have any suggestions, please comment below – it’s good to share!

By Mandeep Rai Kent