Simple Steps to Prepare Kids for Daylight Saving Time

Spring forward may be an easy transition for adults but, for kids, that extra daylight in the bedroom at night can cause them to spring right out of bed. It’s only an hour, right? What’s the big deal? The problem for kids is that the loss of an hour of sleep can disrupt their biological clock for several days or even a week, resulting in tired, cranky little human beings. We are creatures of habit at every age, but the time change is generally harder on kids than adults. Here are some tips to make the transition easier.

How to Adjust Kids’ Schedules

A week before you turn the clocks forward, try to put your child to bed 15 minutes earlier each night. This will result in adjusting to the one-hour change over 3-4 days rather than over just one night. Think of it like taking a slow road trip across time zones vs. jumping on a plane and going several time zones in a few hours. Remember not only to put the kids to bed earlier, but also wake them up 15 minutes earlier each morning. If you let your child oversleep, bedtime could become a battle of wills.

Eat dinner earlier. Move everything in the day up just a little earlier. This isn’t foolproof, as some kids struggle with the time change more than others, but most will adjust more easily with these maneuvers. If you only have a couple days, try to aim for at least shifting the schedule by half an hour. That will help. If you have a child who always gets up too early anyway (which is the case with many babies and toddlers), you can rejoice that with Spring Forward because they may actually wake up at a normal time!

How to Prepare the Bedroom

Light and dark are important cues for our body’s circadian rhythms, which determine our sleep cycles. These circadian rhythms are like an internal clock and can affect a lot more than just sleep – everything from mood and appetite to growth and development. Spring forward may cause kids to be too alert at bedtime or too sleepy in the morning. It can be hard to fall asleep during bedtimes when the evenings are lighter.

Hang blackout curtains and close them before bedtime, so kids can fall asleep more easily and have more restful sleep. In the morning when it’s time to wake up, go into the bedroom, open the curtains, and turn the lights on. These visual cues are important for a child. Sunrises will start to get earlier during spring, making blackout blinds a necessity. Light and dark regulate hormones in our body, such as melatonin, that play an important role in restful, quality sleep. This sleep is an important aspect of your child’s healthy growth and development. Remember that screen time is equivalent to light, so you will want to remove all screens from the bedroom during bedtime.

What to Do the Day Before

Did you forget to shift the schedule and suddenly realize that tomorrow is Daylight Saving Time? Try to spend most of the day outside. Sunlight exposure and exercise during the day help kids fall asleep better at night. If you are creating a good sleep environment and protecting their sleep, kids can adjust fairly quickly. You could even do the schedule shift for the few days after Daylight Saving Time if it aligns with your family schedule. The key is doing it over a couple days, rather than trying to shift the schedule in a day.

In general, babies and toddlers adjust less easily than older kids. Whereas older kids may be able to adjust 30 minutes over 2 days, babies and toddlers likely will need a longer adjustment period with smaller increments of time (for example, 15 minutes a day over 4 days).

Keeping a Routine

Since toddlers and young kids don’t understand the concept of time very well, talking to them about the time change may not register. As a result, keeping the same routine is very important. For example, if your child has a bath and then reads every night before bedtime, try keep this same routine during the time change.

Keep in mind that kids with developmental delays may have a harder time adjusting to the time change, so they may need extra time and patience. This is totally expected. Remember that sleep plays an important role in a child’s overall mood and behavior, so once they adjust to the time change, these should improve as well.