How to Keep Daylight Saving Time from Ruining Your Children’s Sleep

We’ll be springing ahead on March 14 at 2 a.m., which means tons more sunlight in the evening…and the chance that your child will now be up until 10 p.m., bouncing off the walls and screaming about Frozen. If this struggle is familiar to you, keep reading for four tips to help everyone adjust. You can thank us later.

Instead of forcing an 8 p.m. lights-out when it feels like 7 to your child, ease him into the new time zone by bumping up his bedtime slightly each night for the nights before DSL goes into effect. By the time the clocks change, he’ll be ready.

Got a kid with an early bedtime? Yeah, there’s a chance it’ll still be light out when you’re trying to put her down. Make use of those heavy, block-out-the-world shades you already bought for sleep training (right?!) and you should be good to go. We promise they really won’t know the difference.

Nothing confuses children faster than a change in daily order. So if you always eat dinner and then take a bath one hour before bed, keep on doing that—even if it feels too early per your own circadian rhythms.