Daylight Saving Time. I never really thought much about it when I was living in the U.S., it was just something we did. The second Sunday in March we would lose an hour of sleep by adding 60 minutes to our clocks. And on the first Sunday in November, we would set them back that same 60 minutes. It ran like clockwork (pun intended) since you always knew when to expect the time change. Hence, never really having to think much about it.
And then I moved to Chile. Where daylight saving time and the reversion to standard time do not run like clockwork. In fact, I am not sure how they are run because I am never sure, until the day it actually is implemented, when the time change is going to happen.
There is a schedule. It looks like this. Since our seasons are backwards here, we fall back in March and spring forward in October. Both on the second Sunday. But for the past couple of years that schedule has been changed. Seemingly at will and sometimes numerous times, before the time change is actually observed.
Take for example last year (the first one I had first hand experience with). The time change was scheduled for March 12. Which means that it would have already been in place by the time we arrived on March 29. Which was perfect. Our kids were coming from Mountain Daylight Time which, when Chile is on Standard Time (having fallen back an hour), is only a 2 hour time difference. Piece of cake for my kids and I wouldn't have to deal with that horrible week where the kids who used to wake up at 7 am now wake up at 6 am because their body clocks haven't adjusted yet. But since we were adjusting time zones anyway it wouldn't have been a big deal.
And then they announced that they were pushing the date back. Almost a month. Chile would now revert to Standard time on April 4th. The Saturday after we arrived. OK, that was workable. I would just incorporate the time change into our schedule from our arrival. No sense getting them used to one time, just to have to switch it all 6 days later. So the girls stayed up until 8:30 (an hour later than their normal bedtime but was still only 6:30 for their Mountain Time bodies) and woke up, well, when they woke up. They were pretty confused for that week but I was grateful to get it all out of the way right up front.
And then they changed the date again. Since it was decided the day we were travelling here, we didn't find out about it until we landed. This time they were pushing the date until May 7th. Now I was going to have to deal with changing the girls internal clocks twice - within a 6 week time frame. UGH. I guess I could have tried to just set them to the new time schedule from the day we arrived. Six weeks isn't so long to just have them stay up an hour later, right? Wrong. The reason my girls have such an early bedtime (other than we get some quiet time alone at night) is because the later my girls stay up at night, the earlier they get up in the morning - and they are already early risers. It is an inverse relationship. Keep them up an extra hour, they will get up a half an hour early the next morning. 2 hours at night = an hour less sleep in the morning. You get the idea. And back in those days my girls were already getting up between 6:30 and 7:00 am. We found their sweet spot and it happened to be 7:30 pm. It afforded us all the longest amount of sleep and that is all any of us ask for.
May 7th rolled around and no announcements were made so we did our falling back. Finally. The girls handled it with a week of very early mornings and then it all worked out. I figured I didn't have to worry about it again for another 6 months when we sprang forward (which is always easier). A bit naive on my part. Why didn't I realize that if they messed with our falling back that they wouldn't do the same with springing forward? And did they ever. This time they didn't push it back though - they moved it up. From October to August. I am not sure why they bothered for a measly 3 1/2 months...
This year, as I was filling out my March calendar, I skipped writing "Time Change" in the box for March 11. I was just waiting. Sure enough, at the end of February, they announced that they were once moving the date, this time to April 28th. And yet, I still didn't write it on the calendar. I was waiting...just waiting.
But now, as we are finally at April 28th, and no new announcements have been made, I guess I will begin switching all of my clocks back an hour before bed this evening. Except of course for my cell phone and computer. They didn't get the memo on the date changes. Heck, they didn't get the memo that they are in Chile. They switched back an hour on the day that the U.S. sprang forward and when I tried to change them to reflect the correct time, it changes the times for the rest of the world too. Not a big deal if you don't deal with other time zones, but I have family in friends that would not be happy if I called them at the wrong time, say 5 am...
As of tomorrow morning, for said friends and family in other parts of the world, we will be back on Eastern Daylight time. This means I am on the same time zone as New York. It makes it a bit easier to keep in touch since we are only 3 hours ahead of you in California, and only an hour ahead of the central time zone. That is until September 2nd when we switch to Daylight Saving Time...
Or not.
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