On Sunday, November 2 at 2 AM, we turn back the clock an hour. Although moms and dads everywhere may wish they could sleep during that extra hour, the reality is most kids will be up and at ‘em. For parents of children with special needs who already have sleep challenges, this can be an especially tricky time of year. A few key strategies to make things go more smoothly for everyone:
• Ease into it. For the next several days, move up your child’s nap and bedtime by 15 minutes. Come Sunday morning, your darlings may just sleep in for most of that extra hour. This worked well for our family when our kids were little.
• Find the time. If your child is learning how to tell time, or has never had her own clock, this is a good moment to get her one. I let my daughter pick out an inexpensive digital clock online. On Saturday night, I plan to explain the whole “Spring ahead, fall back” thing, turn the clock back and—perhaps most importantly—show her the time when she is allowed to knock on our bedroom door in the morning.
• Make coming home in the dark welcoming. Returning to a pitch-black house after a family dinner out tends to make all of us hate Sunday nights even more, but we’ve found a new solution. Our family got a Piper to try, a chic mini home security and video monitoring system you control through an app. It’s been great to watch and listen in on the kids while I’m at work (there’s a 180-degree lens, so you can view an entire room) and talk to them through the two-way audio. We also got a door/window sensor, for extra security. Our favorite feature is the Smart Switch sensor, which plugs into an outlet; we connected a living room lamp to it, and now before we get home I turn it on from the Piper app so there’s a nice warm glow in the house when we drive up to it. When we’re out I change the setting to “Away” so the motion detector can alert us if anyone tries to break in and steal the Halloween candy.
• Actually use the shades. Pull them down at bedtime; you don’t want sunlight waking your children up any earlier than they might be inclined to because of the time change.
• Create a sleep chart. If the time shift has thrown off your tot, make a chart with columns for Bedtime/Wake-up Time/How I Feel. Fill them out with her daily, and talk through any grumpiness issues.
• Have a time-switch treat. At our house, we make chocolate-chip banana pancakes the morning after we switch back to standard time and, in the spring, the morning after we go to Daylight Saving Time. No matter how early we rise and shine, it makes getting up totally worth it.
From my other blog:
One thing to do that could save your life
The amazing two words a kid said about my son
The thrill of doing absolutely, positively nothing
Image of boy in white bed via Shutterstock