Community Corner
Moms Council: Switching Our Internal Clocks to Eastern Standard Time
Local moms talk about falling back and how the lack of daylight hours affects them and their children.
Hello and welcome to this week's Fredericksburg Patch Moms Council, an online forum of ordinary mothers just trying their best to raise their children. The Moms Council will take your questions, share advice and offer solutions every Wednesday at 1 p.m. This week's topic is do we really gain an hour of sleep when we switch from Daylight Savings Time (DST) to Eastern Standard Time (EST) when we have children?
I never realized how much an hour time shift could affect someone until I watched my 32 month old son during the days that followed the change over from DST to EST. It didn't affect him initially, he slept fine at night but he was tired closer to noon rather than his "normal" nap time. How did the switch back to EST affect your children? Did they wake at what seemed like the middle of the night? Were they hungry earlier?
Not only was my son falling asleep earlier for both nap and bedtime, the time change also seemed to alter his personality. I'm not sure if it's the lack of daylight hours between the time he wakes from his nap to the time he goes to bed but something was definitely off. My friends always joke when the kids are off the wall that it must be a full moon. Could we blame this personality shift on the impending full moon? Or, perhaps, that hour difference and the change in barometric pressure just sent the kids into a frenzy! Share with me what changes you noticed in your children after falling back.
I used to love gaining that extra hour and all the Autumnal colors and smells, but after children I don't have the same feelings. The colder, shorter days are depressingly gray and it gets dark way too early. How are you handling your children's need for a late afternoon, early evening romp around without daylight? Where do you go to let them run out some energy before bedtime?
Join the discussion -- we want to hear from you! Share with us in the comment area your opinion on DST. Does DST really save on our energy bills or was it just for the farmers? In this day and age, should we keep our clocks set at EST? For more information about the format, and an introduction to our Mom's Council, read our intro post .
