Daylight Stupid Time, Part Deux

Once again, the insanity and mayhem of "time change" comes into our home. This "spring ahead" concept is probably just an annoying wrinkle in most peoples' lives. However, when dealing with the various children's mental health issues that we have in our home, it is pure pandemonium. This will prove to be the worst week of the year, second only to the week following "fall back."

The minds in our home are so tied into the sun that the normal course of the sun through the seasons causes problems. This is not your run-of-the-mill sun up at bedtime in the summer. This is noting that the sun sets at 4 instead of 4:30 or that the bus is now coming when it is light instead of in the dark. "Why is the bus late?" is the question asked by T(12) even though it is still 5 minutes until bus time.

I challenge any proponent of changing clocks to duel--it would be fair. Just come in to our home for 5 days--no, you only have to do 4--after the clocks change. You will bear witness to chaos beyond imagination, attitudes that make you WANT to deal with gang members and temper flares that put solar flares to shame. You will intercept fists and spit wads heading towards faces, toys and other objects whizzing towards walls, and food shooting across the table. You will shout untold number of times and try to placate with video games and movies. In the end, you will retreat, exhausted, to write to your congressmen and insist on doing away with time changing.

So, as the rest of the week unwinds, think about those precious minds that are to significantly affected by the chronological conversion. Think about those parents who are tending to them. Be thankful if you are not part of the chaos. And, if you really want to help, write your congressmen!

Daylight Stupid Time

For those of us with special needs children, time must ALWAYS be on our side. Having four of these children make the changing of the clocks a "climb Mt. Everest" type of event. The last 2 weeks have been testy, at best!

The first thing one notices are the comments, starting in mid October, that we are eating dinner later and later. Then, once the clock changes, the kids start complaining about getting out of school later and eating dinner at bedtime! The whine is, "Where did the sun go?"

That is not the worst of it, though. The worst is the changes in behavior that happen the first week after. It is not a pretty house at this time. The whole adjustment process takes a minimum of 2 weeks to adjust and tempers flare frequently during that time.

Each election, I think I should run for office solely on the platform of eliminating time change. It would be one change that would have an immediate effect on the most sensitive of our population. It would calm the world of many frustrated parents and caregivers during those former time change weeks. It would be change from the bottom, impacting life as we know it for the under represented of our world.

In plain words spoken from our special needs 12 year old, T (who deals poorly with the changing of the clocks), "Why do we change the clocks? It doesn't stop how the sun works!" Out of the mouths of babes...