AIBU family want to keep their kids on US time zone!!!

[Bethany1121]

My family lives all over the world and we are all planning to meet at my Mums this summer. We all have young kids and it’s going to be great fun but obviously a mad house.
The only issue is that my brother lives in America and is insisting that he will keep his kids on that time zone.
Therefore his kids will have an 11pm bed time and be getting up at 10/11am.
Therefore no adult time and extremely long days for the parents who will be up 7am with their own little ones. Not the mention upsetting the kids who live in the UK when they still have to go to bed the normal 7pm and not stay up late with their American cousins.

I have tried talking to my brother but he is adamant his kids will stay on US time and not suffer jet lag, he even suggested we alter our kids schedule to suit.
I am absolutely dreading the visit because of this reason. Days with toddlers are long enough already.

I think you are both being unrealistic. Yours probably wont go to bed at 7 his probably wont make it to 11 and they will find their own holiday schedule -

He is also completely delusional that they wont experience jetlag - the overnight flight will pretty much put pay to that!

Bananas. Getting out and about in the daylight, will get everyone on a similar schedule.

My my DC it is the long travel that resets their body clock. Their sleep gets into sync quicker than their appetites, they often still want to eat at normal meal times.

It sounds like he hasn’t travelled much with kids before? What he’s proposing is impossible. The kids will fall asleep when they’re tired and no amount of scheduling will change that. Even if they could do it, letting them become accustomed to staying awake hours after sunset could massively backfire on him when they return home.

Agree with other poster that I also wouldn’t be putting my kids to bed at 7pm during a special holiday. A bit of compromise could work on both sides.

I’d just do my thing and say to him sucks to be you . Kids adjust and his plan is batshit (have taken mine to australia a number of times as well as the us)

I’ve done a lot of transatlantic travel with kids and it’s usually an overnight flight, where you get at best 5 hours of shit sleep so everyone is knackered the next day and crashes out early. And voila you’re on European time without even trying. Just smile and nod cos it will all go to shit on the first day! But I’d also relax with yours and not enforce a 7pm bedtime on holiday. But definitely no creeping around in the morning or eating dinner at 10pm to suit him and his nonsense plan.

@Bethany1121

My family lives all over the world and we are all planning to meet at my Mums this summer. We all have young kids and it’s going to be great fun but obviously a mad house. The only issue is that my brother lives in America and is insisting that he will keep his kids on that time zone. Therefore his kids will have an 11pm bed time and be getting up at 10/11am. Therefore no adult time and extremely long days for the parents who will be up 7am with their own little ones. Not the mention upsetting the kids who live in the UK when they still have to go to bed the normal 7pm and not stay up late with their American cousins.

I have tried talking to my brother but he is adamant his kids will stay on US time and not suffer jet lag, he even suggested we alter our kids schedule to suit.
I am absolutely dreading the visit because of this reason. Days with toddlers are long enough already.

This can’t actually happened. Physically. Jet lag comes from the circadian rhythm. It’s timed to when the sun comes up and when the sun goes down. His kids brain will know that the sun is coming up earlier and setting earlier. So their body will adjust. He can’t physically stop it.

😂 It's never going to happen just smile nod and say well you do yours dinner then as we will be sticking with our routine!

Also as other posters have said it will be impossible they will naturally change to the time zone!
Took my DS grand total of 2 days in New Zealand to adapt we didn't do anything he just naturally shifted!

Also from a biological point of view, sunlight and darkness plays a big part in our brain understanding when it is time to sleep. They may struggle to cope and it can actually be harmful - ask people who work night shifts!

Ah sorry, this poster beat me to it!

Is your brother always a dick?

Yeah it’s not going to work for him. The kids will flip to match morning and night after a few days.

Sure, let them all go to bed when they’re all tired during the holidays, but if this was my DS, he’s still be off to bed at 7 and up at 6 regardless of who was there!

We live in the US and travel to the Uk every summer (before covid obv). My kids have always adjusted to Uk time pretty quickly. Probably within 2 or 3 days. We did keep their bedtime slightly later (so 8pm ish instead of 7 here in US) as it suited us better and we preferred the later mornings, but to be honest they just seemed to fall into the new routine naturally