7 reasons the clocks going back is HELL for parents
As parents, we may relish the idea of an extra hour in bed BUT the clocks going back is never that straight forward when there are others to think about!
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1 Morning starts EVEN earlier!
So you've been blessed (for that read, blighted) with an early riser for a child. One who's up at 5am every day NO MATTER what you do. Yes, we've tried Gina Ford and the Baby Whisperer. Yes, we've tried longer naps, shorter naps, no naps, all the naps – you name it, we've tried it. It's just the way the child is, OK?
But, as if that wasn't enough of a challenge, now the world wants to throw another curve ball into the mix and see this blessed (for that read, freakin' difficult) child wake the whole household up at 4am instead.
Nice one, world.
2 ... and, funnily enough, there's NOTHING to do at 4am
As if the borderline clinical levels of exhaustion getting up at 4am gifts you wasn't enough, it also poses another challenge: what the hell to do at that hour. CBeebies isn't on yet. And you can hardly go to the park at 4am in the dark, when it's freezing outside.
You're on your own. NEVER have you felt more isolated.
3 You have to eat lunch at 10.30am
Early starts, mean early breakfasts, and early breakfasts mean even earlier lunches. That 11.30am lunchtime (blame nursery!) now becomes 10.30.
Ten flippin' thirty! Which then means tea is at about 2 ... which means you have to add in a whole other meal - supper? - at about 5pm. This is getting ridiculous ...
4 Because you've been up since 4am, by 3.30pm they're shattered, miserable, hungry again and you've run out of stuff to do
But wait, before we can even make it to supper time - that new meal of the day we have to now cater for and clean up from - you've got to deal with the general misery that someone having been up since 4am goes through mid-afternoon.
Cue tears, tantrums... and that's just us. The kids? They're basically feral by this stage in the game.
5 Bed time is a FARCE!
So you decide that the only way to get the little darlings on track is to insist on a fixed 7pm bedtime. But by this stage they're SO over tired, they're actually wired - like, as if they've been taking speed all afternoon tired. You can't even catch them to get them into their room they're so hyper. From feral to French-farce-on-drugs. Brilliant. Just how we wanted to raise our families.
6 It takes WEEKS to get out of this cycle of hell
Other than moving the clocks back again - don't pretend you haven't tried to put them to bed at 4pm by changing the kitchen clock: "I know you've only just got in from school, Sweetheart, but time flies when you're having fun. It's oiff to bed we go!" - this whole clocks situation is basically We're Going on a Bear Hunt.. but for real: there's no way under it; we've got to go through it.
Maybe that's what the book is actually about - time. Or maybe now we're just so tired we're seeing things that aren't there. We're actually hallucinating!
7 And then, just as you hit your stride in a new routine, they move them again!
SERIOUSLY, people! What don't you get?! Enough already with the clock moving. It's definitely a conspiracy. A conspiracy against parents. Against parents getting sleep. Against parents staying sane. We give up. You win. We're going to bed.
Want help getting your child to stay in bed for longer? Why not invest in a Gro Clock sleep trainer? It's a genius buy and you can see more details, here at Amazon.
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