This post was most recently updated on May 18th, 2015
In my little corner of the world, tomorrow (Saturday) night marks the Time Change – meaning, the start of Daylight Savings Time. Or the end of Daylight Savings Time – I’m never sure which. This change – the spring forward – is my least favorite. It means that we actually lose an hour of sleep during the night – not a desirable situation, considering that I’ve never actually adjusted to the time change from last fall. Or spring. Or the fall before that. Geesh.
My research into the subject of What’s the Deal With Daylight Savings Time? has netted me this following information:
- Outdoor enthusiasts like it because they get an “extra hour of daylight” during the spring and summer months.
- Politicians have expanded the included months in an effort to make us think we’re getting more leisure time and to promote an energy bill in the legislature. (DST used to run from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In 2006, it was expanded to begin on the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.)
- Not every state in America observes DST. While the law is federal, states can choose whether or not to participate.
- Parents hate DST, especially if their children are under the age of 10.
While I don’t consider myself an outdoor enthusiast, per say, I do enjoy walking when the weather is nice or working in my garden or sometimes sitting on my new brick patio and watching the cattle graze in the pasture south of the house. But I can do all these things without fiddling around with the damn clock. I don’t need to spring forward or fall back or turn in a circle on the hour to make the most of my outdoor time. In fact, if the clock says 8:00 p.m. and it’s still daylight outdoors … I feel like I’m losing leisure time. Because to me, leisure time is when supper is over, the dishes are done and the kids are in bed … which isn’t happening when everyone wants to “just get a few more things done before dark” on the farm.
Politicians … okay, I don’t even really need to expand on this topic, do I? They are completely out of touch with reality and their constituents and their only interest lies in getting re-elected. Do we really need or want them deciding how to operate a clock? Or organize our days? I think not.
Some states do not observe Daylight Savings Time. Currently, Arizona and Hawaii do not. Indiana used to pass on all the springing and falling, too, but for some reason, it changed its mind in 2006 and started leaping around the clock with the rest of us. I am a huge fan of states’ rights. I wish my state would opt out of DST. I’d move to Arizona but I don’t think I’d like to be so hot all the time. Although it’s a dry heat, so I’ve heard. Still, I’d really like to get off the time-hopping merry-go-round.
Parents really do hate Daylight Savings Time. At least they hate it during the school year. And since I’ve already discussed the expansion of DST to include two extra months during the school year … Basically, if you’re a parent, you know how hard it is to get your child to go to bed and get up at the same time every day. And when it’s still daylight outside at bedtime, it’s almost impossible to get young children (and sometimes older children, too) to settle down and go to sleep. Proponents of DST say it’s important to the northern areas of the country to have the extra daylight for agriculture or other outdoor work. But anyone who has had to spend weeks dealing with a toddler whose sleep schedule has been disrupted just doesn’t care. It wouldn’t seem like an hour would make that much difference, but to a small child, an hour is a huge deal. A small time shift is magnified in their little bodies, making their internal clocks completely at odds with the wall clock. And it takes a very long time to get them used to the new schedule and routine. About the time they finally get accustomed to a new bedtime and waking time, Daylight Savings Time ends and the cycle starts again.
I hate Daylight Savings Time. An hour of extra daylight in the evening, an extra hour of dark in the morning … there are still only 24 hours in a day, y’all! However you arrange the day itself, you can’t add time to it. Why should we go through all the hassle of changing the clock twice a year and subjecting ourselves to exhaustion for months while we struggle to adjust? So golfers can fit in an extra round after work? I think not. I think I’m going to continue to operate on Standard Time, even though the rest of my state observes DST. Nothing important really ever starts right on time anyway, so I bet I can get away with it. And, I’ll be more well-rested that everyone else which has to give me some kind of an edge. I’ll let you know how this works out.
