Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if we can stop dicking about with the clocks?

385 replies

ThirdElephant · 01/11/2021 04:48

Just that, really. I'm up at 4:30 for the second day in a row because of this clock nonsense. Changing bedtime is not adjusting wake-up time, just resulting in a tired infant. Can we all just leave the clocks where they are from now on?

OP posts:
BooneyBeautiful · 02/11/2021 17:47

I've also got no idea how to change the oven clock. Or the car 🤦

You should be able to find user manuals online. I can never remember how to change the oven clock, so have to dig out the manual twice a year.

Xmasbaby11 · 02/11/2021 17:50

Hmm I can't get worked up about this. We just go to bed / get up at the new time and there has never been a problem. The kids are 7 and 9 and don't notice.

BooneyBeautiful · 02/11/2021 17:51

We did actually stay on BST one year (back in the 1970s I think), but for some reason we then went back to changing them twice a year again!

Ifrozethehoumous · 02/11/2021 17:55

They did keep the clocks the same one year way back but then all the parents moaned because the kids had to go to school in the dark - especially In Scotland. I’d like them to stop dicking about with the clocks too though.

mrbreezeet1 · 02/11/2021 18:03

UANBU
I I wish they would leave them alone too now it's going to be getting dark at 5 p.m.

Mary54 · 02/11/2021 18:12

Wish one of the bright sparks at the EU would explain it to my dog. Experience tells me I’ve got at least 2 weeks of him pushing my office chair away from my desk and planting a large set of paws on the keyboard because it’s getting dark and he’s convinced I’ve forgotten to feed him. Really can’t see how that ties into the idea of it increasing industrial productivity

ThistleTits · 02/11/2021 18:27

@jontyl

We only have so much daylight. Messing around with it gives me jetlag type symptoms for 2 days. Pointless especially as farmers just adjust their days to daylight hours. They don't do 9-5!! Schoolkids get chauffeured into school anyway. I personally think it's a way for the government/powers that be saying 'we're in control'.
Not all children get driven to school.
Mirw · 02/11/2021 18:28

Try living in Scotland, then say that... Some people in Englandshire are very selfish!

Bookaholic33 · 02/11/2021 18:30

Haha re the oven clock - same here! I always ha e to turn off at main and wait till 11 noon next day to get clock all but to the right time . One Winter they left the clocks and we went to school in the dark which was weird- yes I am a Granny not a Mum and don’t even know if I’m allowed on here!!!

Matildalamp · 02/11/2021 18:33

I live in Shetland (which I’ve said before, sorry for being boring). The sun rises just after 9am pretty much all through December. It’s unbelievably dark in the morning here, when I lived in England, I was amazed at the difference that hour made. So I’d like it to stay like this.

My Dad went to school in 1941. During the war the clocks were two hours ahead in summer, and one in winter. Sun rise at 10am, as a 5 year old going to school for the first time was a scary experience.

Matildalamp · 02/11/2021 18:52

I don’t need it to be light at 7am, but I’d like it to be light before 10am!

ancientgran · 02/11/2021 18:58

@Lockdownbear

Moving school times would be a nightmare. Working parents would need breakfast care, it would impact public transport, which in turn would impact everything else.

If schools don't open until say 10, who's going to be up shopping at 9 in the dark?

Moving school times would cause so many issues.

Senior school children don't need breakfast care do they? Anyway wouldn't that be balanced out with them leaving school later and not needing care then, if senior school children do need after school care.

I'm not sure what school times and going shopping has to do with it. If parents are off to work when the kids go to school I don't suppose they are shopping at 9 am anyway. People can either go shopping at 9 am or later, up to them and of course most people won't have a child at senior school.

ancientgran · 02/11/2021 18:59

@BooneyBeautiful

I've also got no idea how to change the oven clock. Or the car 🤦

You should be able to find user manuals online. I can never remember how to change the oven clock, so have to dig out the manual twice a year.

My old car clock changed itself. Honestly I miss that car.
ancientgran · 02/11/2021 19:01

@Lockdownbear

Moving school times would be a nightmare. Working parents would need breakfast care, it would impact public transport, which in turn would impact everything else.

If schools don't open until say 10, who's going to be up shopping at 9 in the dark?

Moving school times would cause so many issues.

Actually wouldn't it improve public transport, people could get to work without the buses being full of kids and the kids wouldn't be on such crowded buses once the workers were in work, well the 9 to 5 workers.
Matildalamp · 02/11/2021 19:01

@Platax there’d be a huge difference between 8-2 and 10-4 daylight hours in Shetland. I wouldn’t want my 5 year old going out at 8.15am in pitch black weather to school!

Matildalamp · 02/11/2021 19:02

Not to mention road accidents because there’s no sun to burn off the frost Angry

tigger1001 · 02/11/2021 19:12

@Lockdownbear

Moving school times would be a nightmare. Working parents would need breakfast care, it would impact public transport, which in turn would impact everything else.

If schools don't open until say 10, who's going to be up shopping at 9 in the dark?

Moving school times would cause so many issues.

It really would be. I can't actually believe this is thought of as the easiest solution! Rather than the current system of changing the clocks twice per year that's been in existence for many years now!

It would be a massive upheaval to change school times for a few months per year.

Lockdownbear · 02/11/2021 19:15

Are you suggesting primaries start at a different time to secondary kids?
So primary kids are still going out in the pitch black?

I know I'm not the only mum who does the shopping as soon as kids are dropped off on my days off. Many shop staff would struggle to get into work if kids don't go to school until later.

Moving school start times to align with daylight is even more nuts than moving the clocks full stop.

Lockdownbear · 02/11/2021 19:19

It would be a massive upheaval to change school times for a few months per year.

Glad someone else can see the issues. It definitely wouldn't be as simple as schools start later, loads of stuff you haven't thought about would be later.

tigger1001 · 02/11/2021 19:23

@Lockdownbear

It would be a massive upheaval to change school times for a few months per year.

Glad someone else can see the issues. It definitely wouldn't be as simple as schools start later, loads of stuff you haven't thought about would be later.

It really would be a massive upheaval with lots of unintended consequences as a result. Which would be nuts considering we are used to changing the clocks twice per year, albeit while moaning about it.
bananasplitsallround · 02/11/2021 19:31

So many southerners on here!

Lockdownbear · 02/11/2021 19:34

@bananasplitsallround

So many southerners on here!
Yip massive just so they can have an evening stroll.

Why don't they get up earlier and flex their work day so they finish earlier 🙄

ancientgran · 02/11/2021 19:40

@Lockdownbear

Are you suggesting primaries start at a different time to secondary kids? So primary kids are still going out in the pitch black?

I know I'm not the only mum who does the shopping as soon as kids are dropped off on my days off. Many shop staff would struggle to get into work if kids don't go to school until later.

Moving school start times to align with daylight is even more nuts than moving the clocks full stop.

Would depend what people want but for older ones it shouldn't cause childcare problems as they can get themselves to school anyway. Round here schools start and finish at different times anyway, primaries get out earlier, senior start earlier.

If moving the clocks doesn't suit most people but it is an issue for kids walking to school then what would you suggest?

There are positives, I think your average teenager is likely to stay in bed for an extra hour but at the end of the day they are more likely to be hanging around in the dark so safer for them.

LouiseBelchersBunnyEars · 02/11/2021 19:42

I love the way it’s being framed over and over again on this thread as us ‘refusing to fall in line’ and ‘having to be different’ from the EU….
How is maintaining status quo ‘having to be different’? Ridiculous

ancientgran · 02/11/2021 19:42

@Lockdownbear

Are you suggesting primaries start at a different time to secondary kids? So primary kids are still going out in the pitch black?

I know I'm not the only mum who does the shopping as soon as kids are dropped off on my days off. Many shop staff would struggle to get into work if kids don't go to school until later.

Moving school start times to align with daylight is even more nuts than moving the clocks full stop.

So do you think shops change their hours in school holidays?

Some people are so set in their ways, there's moaning about how it is, moaning about not changing the clocks, moaning about leaving it as GMT moaning about leaving it as BST but not prepared to think about anything else.