Daylight Savings Time, children and the timeline of a parent

The end of Daylight Savings Time means different things to people in various age groups.  It signals cooler weather to everyone, as well as the pending, arrival of lots of holidays.  As I’ve gotten older and started a family it means something totally different to me now than 20 years ago.  All things about the family are good, but the changes wrought from the end of Daylight Savings Time aren’t.

Can stay up late

As recently as a couple years ago this magical day in fall meant that I could stay up late with impunity.  The most favorable memories would certainly have to be when I was in school at East Carolina University.  Sure the clock says 2:00 am, but the bars will stay open until 3:00 a.m., because 2:00 a.m. automatically becomes 1:00 a.m.  The space time continuum will pause and I’ll be able to dance like a ninja and talk to pretty girls without stuttering.  Sweet.

Unfortunately I never could dance like a ninja and all that extra hour of night time did was waste my money at The Elbow Room.  The Elbow Room was a corner bar at East Carolina that played Salt N Pepa every thirty minutes.  Having said that, my bad ninja dancing was the best game going, until I wasn’t a freshman anymore.

If I were automatically thrust back to the late 80’s I would use that extra hour of time to study.  I’d also change my major from Broadcasting to anything else.  On the plus side, don’t mess with me at bar trivia if the subject is music, especially heavy metal hair bands.   On the down side I never go to bar trivia so all I can do now is sucker unsuspecting people into trivia contests on my cul de sac, as long as the games aren’t too late.

Can get to bed early

Sometimes we’d joking say that going to bed early at the end of Daylight Savings Time was an option.  In reality, early was getting to sleep before 2:00 and because of the flux in the space time continuum there was probably something fun happening at the dorm anyway.

Can relax

When we first got married the end of Daylight Savings Time meant that we could relax, go out with friends, read a book or enjoy each other in marital bliss.

Children get freaky

The witching hour is that time period late in the afternoon where your child does the exact opposite of what they normally do.  They’ll cry, yell and generally make the last two hours of their day equal to years of pain and sonic torture for moms and dads.  Similar to the way time in space slows to a fraction of real time on earth, the witching hour is measured at quarter time, with a maniacal 2-year old holding the clock.

Last year our 2-year old was 1-year old.  (thanks to my Broadcasting degree for that math!) Even though he was 1-year old he knew something was different about the time.  Normally he sleeps like Rip Van Winkle; but on that night he woke up at 4:00 a.m., which was a full two hours before he normally wakes up.    I looked around, didn’t see any dancing ninjas and the pretty girl closest to me would’ve been super angry if I woke her up.

We’ve heard of children knowing about the time change when they’re too young to comprehend anything other than a bottle of milk.  Our 4-week old is certainly too young to know anything about the time change.  To safeguard against our 2-year old waking up early we kept him up late tonight.  At an hour past his bed time he was yawning and waving “bye-bye” from his crib.  Parenting powers unite.  If I can score a quick round of heavy metal Jeopardy online the day will be a total success.