Before I had children I used to love the clocks going back an hour. It generally falls on my birthday weekend, which was incredibly useful for nursing a hangover! Now that I have children, the clocks going back are less appealing. Ooh, just the thought of that extra hour in bed is so appealing!
Now my children both have a very good bedtime routine. Bath at 6.30pm, bedtime story, cuddles and then in bed for around 7.15, usually asleep for 7.30pm and they sleep until 7.30am. I worked hard on this routine when they were little and I get frustrated when it gets thrown out of sync.
We used to start putting them to bed half an hour early about a week before the clocks went back, in the hope their body clocks would start to change. We also use a Gro-clock, which is wonderful for telling them when to get up in the morning. However, last year when the clocks went back we were staying in a Youth Hostel (my birthday treat) and the children woke early (probably around 6.30 pre-clocks going back, making it 5.30 new time). We were all sleeping in bunk beds and the four of us lay there, knowing each other was asleep but also not wanting to move for fear of having to get up and actually do something. It was a ridiculous situation, and this year we're not repeating it.
Today at 3pm there is a live and interactive webTV show, which you can see below, with Mandy Gurney who is a sleep expert and founder of a children's sleep clinic. She will be offering advice on how to adapt your children's routine so that they can cope with an extra hour in bed. Hopefully ensuring that you get that extra hour in bed too! You can follow this link to watch the show, or simply watch live below.
Disclosure: I have not received any payment for this post.
