November 2018, California voters passed Proposition 7, allowing Daylight Saving Time to possibly be adopted year round. As a parent, I don’t care whether it’s Pacific Standard Time (PSD) or Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)… just keep it the same! Choose ONE.
Here’s why:
This. This is why. What is this? This is just a prime example of time change craziness. So, you’re probably asking, “No, but really…what am I looking at? What’s so special about Cheez-its, sandwiches, and a bag of cloth (???) in a sink…and why is this stuff in the sink?!”
Well, I’ll tell you. And it goes a little something like this:
The evening of Sunday, March 10th (Daylight Savings day), around 5:30pm:
I had toiled in the kitchen, preparing a healthy and hearty meal of chicken kabob and baqali polo (a rice dish infused with saffron, turmeric and dill with fava beans). My kids LOVE this stuff. Well, they used to. Like, a week ago. Essentially, dinner drama ensues and one kid only eats the kabob, another eats only a bite or two of each, and the other—nothing; Not one bite!
In an attempt to quash any reinforcement of this semi-hunger strike, my husband and I decide to “finally put our foot down” and agree that this meal should be given to them at breakfast. No cereal. No yogurt. Without exception. “They need to eat what we feed them!” we said.
Side note: My eldest son is 4 ½ (that ½ year is a HUGE deal, y’know) and I also have 3 ½ year old identical twin boys. Thus, we are in the prime stage for unpredictable food aversions. Couple that with autism (twins) and we’ve got ourselves a grand ol’ time at every meal. I like to call it mealtime “Russian Roulette” — we never know what they’re going to eat!
The following morning, 5:45am: Reality check
The kids are already in a mood. Did they wake up any earlier than usual? Nope. These kids wake up annoyingly early all on their own. (Yaaaaaaay….) They sense it; They know we’re sticking by our guns this morning. And now they’re confused and agitated I am cutting their early morning, pre-breakfast shenanigans short.
I (finally!) get them wrangled downstairs at the kitchen table when my husband nonchalantly sashays past me and waves goodbye with a look in his eyes relaying equal parts “you’ve got this,” “haha… suckerrrrrr!” and “I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with this ?,” as he disappears into the garage.**
“Breakfast” is served to a cacophony of protests, crying, pushing the bowl(s) across the table, and of course, refusing to eat the perfectly-acceptable-a-week-ago-but-now-is-utterly-revolting food.
While I am trying to “stick to my guns,” I am also in the process of potty training the twins. Have you potty trained twins? More specifically, have you potty trained autistic twins? (If so, call, text, email, or send a homing pigeon to me with your recommendations…‘cause I need them! I’m ABA-ing the crap out of this—pun intended—and our bowl’s coming up empty—pun intended…again)
Well, if you haven’t, let me tell you…it’s exhausting. And smelly. And messy. And anxiety inducing.
So… between yelling like a maniac, I mean—gently encouraging—my ragamuffins to sit in their chairs (and stay there!) and eat their flipping dinner-breakfast, I am shuttling to and from the bathroom in precisely scheduled increments with each twin to (hopefully!) catch some excrement in the toilet instead of on the floor…pull-up…couch…wherever! Oh yeah, and let’s not forget I need to make and pack lunches, get a new fitted sheet and blanket for the eldest’s nap time cot (yep, that’s what the random bag-o-cloth is!). All this while the persistent, strategic avoidance of aforementioned breakfast-dinner is still raging on, along with general chaos, and the never-ending soundtrack of, “Mom. Mom. Mommy. Moooommy. Mom. Mooooooooooom!” (think Stewie Griffin from The Family Guy, if you need a visual) droning on in the background. And—obviously—accomplishing all of this with a wink and a smile. (Ha!)
Did I mention the kids—ALL of them—L-O-V-E to grab anything and everything off the counters?
Especially snacks. Especially snacks when they’re avoiding a meal. Because, well, they can’t resist. As such, lunches were heaved into the sink (along with bag o’ bedding) to keep tiny hands from:
A.) eating them
B.) making a mess (because they are bonafide experts at that)
C.) stashing the items in some obscure place not to be seen again until the rancid, pungent smell makes its secret lair quite (horrifyingly) apparent
Then the potty timer went off.
Time for another game of “Poo Or No Poo?!” followed by more arguing about breakfast. (Despite my resolve to “feed them what I cook for them,” I caved and ended up giving them yogurt, of which even that they are refusing to eat). Next, it’s time to change them into school-appropriate clothes (i.e.: not pajamas)…. Oh man! How is it already 8:15?!?!
I run to grab the backpacks by the front door in a panic, put on the twins’ shoes and encourage the other to hurry up and put his shoes on without my head exploding from watching him perform this task at a sub-glacial pace, load up everyone in the “mom mobile” to drop the eldest off at his school, and then rush back home in time for the school bus to pick up the twins. Whew!
Success!!! Or, so I thought.
It was only after I returned home and transferred the twins to the bus then walked into the kitchen to eat my breakfast and make myself a cup of coffee did I notice the twins’ lunches and bed linens sitting in the sink. Friggity frack. I now throw the lunch items into separate baggies (because the lunch boxes are in the kids’ backpacks… empty), grab the nap time cot linens, hop into the car, and now drive back to my eldest’s preschool (again!) and then trek across town to my twins’ preschool.
**For those wondering, my hubby did call me when he knew dropoff/pickup craziness was over to check in on “how breakfast went.” Needless to say, I think he may have wished he hadn’t called!
So, this. This is why I implore we stick to one time schedule—and keep it!
I know I am not the only parent/guardian that struggles to get the circus out the door in the morning. I also know I am not the only one who absolutely dreads time changes. (The sleep issues! The moodiness! The tears and frustrations! [parents and children, alike!])
Can we PLEASE make Daylight Saving time changes a thing of the past?!
So tell me, how was your time change earlier this month? Please share your time change adventures, fails, and woes in the comments!
