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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Who actually benefits from changing the clocks?

593 replies

shockwaze · 31/10/2023 06:13

Kids up at 5:30. Pretty sure that the same thing has happened in many, many houses this morning.

It's just an hour, but so disruptive to children.

Who benefits? Winds me up every year.

OP posts:
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9
AlwaysPrettyOnTheInside · 31/10/2023 07:26

I benefit. My dogs seem to be leaving it later to whine for me to get up, which is the opposite if what you'd expect.

GRex · 31/10/2023 07:26

grottyb · 31/10/2023 07:21

I hate the dark evenings-and all those kids who would be walking to school in the dark now have to walk from school in the dark. Ugh.

Where does the sun set at 3-3:30?

School starts at 8.30 and finishes at 3.30 even without clubs, and it's dark before 4. A great many kids are walking in the dark in the evening.

ElBandito · 31/10/2023 07:27

shockwaze · 31/10/2023 06:18

Well, fuck fhem.

Show quote history

I think you'll find the supermarkets are already doing that for you...

saffy2 · 31/10/2023 07:27

My kids have never been. Affected by the clock change tbh. I put them to bed as normal, a tad later on the night before. On the next night I follow the new time and they get up as normal. My eldest was up before 5 every day regardless of the clock change, the clock change didn’t change that. My youngest wakes about 7/7.30, and has carried on with that even with the clock change. I never realised this was an issue for some people.

LGBirmingham · 31/10/2023 07:27

I always wonder with the clock changes, both ways, what happens to those toddlers where the parents insist that they will wake up at 5am no matter what. And they insist it really isn't the fact that they go to sleep at 7pm that makes them wake early.

VisitationRights · 31/10/2023 07:27

We should stay on standard time and not switch to dst next year, let’s do away with changing the clocks.

SamPoodle123 · 31/10/2023 07:27

We love the time change at this time of year. It sucks big time in spring though. My dc are still sound asleep at 7:30am (youngest is 3). It helps get them to bed earlier. But it is super annoying in spring. Probably best if the time change did not happen at all!

CesareBorgia · 31/10/2023 07:27

PuppyMonkey · 31/10/2023 07:25

My dog likes to have his tea at 5pm. He knows the time and starts “looking” at me when it gets to 5pm. You should have seen his face on Sunday when it got to what he thought was 5pm and it was actually only 4pm. It was like Hmm and Confused all rolled into one.

Ha ha! I get exactly that face from my cats, complete with head-tilt!

Original poster
shockwaze · 31/10/2023 07:27

@ElBandito yes which is a problem I agree

OP posts:
allsfairin · 31/10/2023 07:27

GRex · 31/10/2023 07:22

These arguments have always been ridiculous.

  1. Farmers can set an alarm and get up at whatever time they choose, they don't need the whole country to get up or go to bed later. Farmers don't get up earlier when I have calls with Australia for work, nor stay up late because I need to talk to the US team at work, I shouldn't need to adjust my hours for them either.
  2. By December we have a little over 8 hours of light. If the light is given to the morning so it's light before 8 for kids to go to school, then it'll be dark before 4 when they are travelling home from school. And more tired.
Show quote history

Farmers happen to be crucial to us staying alive - no one cares if you do or don't ring Australia, ring them, or email instead, or get another job. - neither of these options are available to farmers.

And it is designed to make the best use of our daylight hours, however short they are ( 6 hours in December, not 8, when we have 8, no children are not finishing school in the dark)

sorrynotathome · 31/10/2023 07:27

Let’s not

Nutellaonall · 31/10/2023 07:28

Helps me get the kids into an earlier bedtime routine after half term.

It means we aren’t walking to school in the dark in the morning. I think that is the main thing. More relevant if you live in the north of England/ Scotland.

sorrynotathome · 31/10/2023 07:29

VisitationRights · 31/10/2023 07:27

We should stay on standard time and not switch to dst next year, let’s do away with changing the clocks.

Let’s not.

Purplepinkfairy · 31/10/2023 07:29

Farmers provide food that you eat......don't be so rude.

lurchermummy · 31/10/2023 07:29

So you're a bit inconvenienced by your kids waking early for a few days but farmers can go fuck themselves?? You wouldn't say that if there was no milk or bread in the shops because farmers couldn't do their jobs properly.

saffy2 · 31/10/2023 07:30

LGBirmingham · 31/10/2023 07:27

I always wonder with the clock changes, both ways, what happens to those toddlers where the parents insist that they will wake up at 5am no matter what. And they insist it really isn't the fact that they go to sleep at 7pm that makes them wake early.

My eldest woke early every day, regardless of the time he went to bed. He never got up earlier or later with clock changes. It was still 5 ish, on the new time, and I would change his bedtime to the new time 7/7.30pm.

grottyb · 31/10/2023 07:31

@GRex no, all schools do not follow those times? Why do you think that? And as I said where I am in it’s not dark at 3 or 3.30, where are you that it is?

Pooooochi · 31/10/2023 07:31

I and all the many people walking to a rural train or bus stop to work at 7am

All the school children who have to leave the house at 7 or 7.30 catching buses etc for school.

Most working people & school have to be up by about 7am to get to work and school before 9, and its much, much nicer to have the light.

Stroopwaffels · 31/10/2023 07:33

instaready · 31/10/2023 06:27

Scotland benefits. Kids would be waking to school in the dark otherwise.

Exactly. We're in Glasgow so there is a lot of Scotland north of us which is even darker in the winter. In mid-December it's often not properly light here until 9am. If we didn;t shift the clocks everyone would be going to school in the rush hour, in the pitch dark and it wouldn't be light until 10am.

Coming home from school at 3/4 isn't as risky for the kids as there isn't so much rush hour traffic on the roads, but even then it is dark by 4pm in winter still.

I feel the pain of children waking early but this is a stage which does not last forever, a few years at the very most.

Pooooochi · 31/10/2023 07:34

I always wonder with the clock changes, both ways, what happens to those toddlers where the parents insist that they will wake up at 5am no matter what. And they insist it really isn't the fact that they go to sleep at 7pm that makes them wake early

Its a nightmare. I put them to bed at the new time (which to them feels an hour later) and they wake at the old time, so they are simply tired from an hour less sleep. It takes weeks for their wake time to shift and what is key in shifting it is their mealtimes moving. In "normal" life i can't move breakfast or lunch an hour later due to school timings, so i never succeed in moving bedtime and waketime significantly later.

Original poster
shockwaze · 31/10/2023 07:36

saffy2 · 31/10/2023 07:27

My kids have never been. Affected by the clock change tbh. I put them to bed as normal, a tad later on the night before. On the next night I follow the new time and they get up as normal. My eldest was up before 5 every day regardless of the clock change, the clock change didn’t change that. My youngest wakes about 7/7.30, and has carried on with that even with the clock change. I never realised this was an issue for some people.

They stayed at their grandparents on Saturday night and the youngest is ill.

OP posts:
MassageForLife · 31/10/2023 07:36

grottyb · 31/10/2023 07:21

I hate the dark evenings-and all those kids who would be walking to school in the dark now have to walk from school in the dark. Ugh.

Where does the sun set at 3-3:30?

The sun sets between 3 and 3.30 during December from just north of Dundee and up.

Original poster
shockwaze · 31/10/2023 07:36

LGBirmingham · 31/10/2023 07:27

I always wonder with the clock changes, both ways, what happens to those toddlers where the parents insist that they will wake up at 5am no matter what. And they insist it really isn't the fact that they go to sleep at 7pm that makes them wake early.

Toddlers need 12-14 hours sleep so I have no idea what you're on about

OP posts:
Original poster
shockwaze · 31/10/2023 07:37

lurchermummy · 31/10/2023 07:29

So you're a bit inconvenienced by your kids waking early for a few days but farmers can go fuck themselves?? You wouldn't say that if there was no milk or bread in the shops because farmers couldn't do their jobs properly.

Has no relevance at all

OP posts:
Malarandras · 31/10/2023 07:37

Scotland benefits, thanks for asking. So do plenty other people. Your discomfort doesn’t outweigh that oddly enough. If you feel that strongly write to your MP.