Time Warp

Why is day light savings time so hard on parents? Before I had children, I used to change my clock, go to bed a little earlier or sleep a little later, and be done with it. Sometimes it was even fun. Like in college when the bars would stay open an hour later. 

These days, I feel the effects of "falling back" and "springing ahead" for days, and so do my kids. In the fall we supposedly gain an hour.  But the kids still get up at the same time, only now it's an hour earlier, resulting in what I have renamed The Longest Day Ever.  This Sunday we lost an hour. Any parent can sense the unfairness of this. Who among us can afford to lose one hour of sleep? Of course we all remember taunting our parents with the questions: "What time is it really?" "Why do I have to go to bed when it's still light out?" "Why can't I have lunch right now? It's only 10 am? What does that mean?" 

This morning we all overslept.  I woke my oldest boy, who at age 7 can get himself ready fast.  My three year old lay on the floor and sobbed. Then screamed for waffles. He feels the effects of the daylight savings hangover. I threw on clothes, and my glasses and did the best I could with my hair. Much as I wished to just drop him off and ride away, I accompanied my first-grader into the main office of his school for his tardy slip.  Looking and feeling as though I'd spent the night out partying, or had just arrived home from LA on the Red Eye. (As though momma were a rock star...) 

We ran into the school guidance counselor on the way in. He took one look at the three of us, sons and mother with red-rimmed eyes and hair askew, and said kindly "this time change is a real drag isn't it?"