Will You Join the Rebellion and Stay on Daylight Saving Time All Year?

             Twice each year, parents must decide what they will do about Daylight Savings Time. On Sunday, November 7, 2021, Daylight Savings Time officially ends for six months. No one likes the twice-yearly change in time, and some members of Congress are trying to do something about it.

            Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and twenty-three other Senators are sponsoring a bill that would give states the choice to stay on Daylight Savings Time permanently. This could cause a patchwork effect on the nation if some states chose to keep things as they are and other states did not. Hawaii and Arizona remain on standard time all year, while the other forty-eight states experience the yo-yo effect. 

            Rubio claims that “The overwhelming majority of members of Congress approve and support it (permanent daylight saving time.” However, they never get around to passing a bill to make it permanent. Bills have been written several times in recent years, but they always die in committee. No one knows the real cause for the continuing problem.

            So, what can parents do to help their family make the adjustments twice each year? Jennifer Graham suggested rebellion. No one – not even the authoritarians in government – is forcing us to change the time that we go to bed. We can stay on daylight saving time and avoid the “biannual disruption from which it takes weeks to recover.” Dogs and children do not understand the time change and wake up at the same time they did two days previously.

Which is why it makes sense to ignore the time change, and to keep going to bed and getting up at the same time you usually do. This means, of course, that according to your cellphone, you’ll be going to bed and getting up an hour earlier each dy. For example, if you previously arose at 7 a.m. and retired at 11 p.m., you’ll be getting up at 6 and going to bed at 10 from now until March 13 (the date of the springtime change in 2022). You’ll still have to report to school, work, church and Jazz games when your friends and colleagues do, which requires some nimbleness of thought. But for people who adhere to a rigid sleep schedule (a best practice for good health), it can be worth it.

Despite the challenges, I’ve stayed on daylight saving time for 3 years now, by waging my own small standard-time strike. I love having an “extra” hour to myself every morning and don’t mind going to bed an hour “early,” except when NFL games are tied in the fourth quarter.

            I know another woman who keeps her family on the same time all year, and she likes it. Staying on the same schedule all year would avoid that awful adjustment every six months. Parents may want to consider this idea and improve the health of their family. Healthier families strengthen communities and nations.